Five Army columns deployed in Assam, three Assam Rifles columns in Tripura

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Amid protests in the northeastern states over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, five Army columns have been requisitioned and deployed in Assam.

According to Indian Army officials, three Assam Rifles columns have also been requisitioned and deployed in Tripura.

The strength of one column is about 70 personnel of all ranks.

Assam's Guwahati and Dibrugarh have been placed under indefinite curfew till further orders in the wake of protests after the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

The administration has also suspended mobile Internet services for 24 hours from 7 pm on Wednesday in ten districts of the state - Lakhimpur, Tinsukia, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Charaideo, Sivasagar, Jorhat, Golaghat, Kamrup (metro), and Kamrup.

The CAB smoothly sailed through Parliament after Rajya Sabha passed it on Wednesday. As many as 125 members of the Upper House voted in favour while 105 MPs voted against the Bill, which was passed by Lok Sabha earlier this week.

The Bill seeks to grant Indian citizenship to refugees from Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Zoroastrian communities fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh and who entered India on or before December 31, 2014.