Mobile internet services suspended for 48 hours in Meghalaya

Mobile internet services have been suspended across Meghalaya for the next 48 hours, officials said.

The development comes in the wake of the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Parliament.

CVD Diengdoh, additional secretary to the government of Meghalaya (home police) department on Thursday said that mobile Internet and messaging were suspended for 48 hours from 5pm on Thursday in entire Meghalaya to prevent potential threat to public safety through SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

The district administration of East Khasi Hills district has imposed curfew in few areas of the city from 10 pm on Thursday night until further orders.

The areas where the curfew will remain effective include areas under Sadar and Lumdiengjri police stations - the whole of Jaiaw, Mawkhar, Umsohsun, Riatsamthiah, Wahingdoh, Mission, Mawprem, Lumdiengjri, Lama Villa, Qualapatty, Wahthapbru, Sunny Hill, Cantonment, Butcher Road, Mawlonghat excluding localities beyond Umshyrpri bridge.

The areas would also include the whole of Khyndai Lad (Police Bazaar), Jail Road, Keatinge Road, and Polo.

Meanwhile in neighbouring Assam the suspension of mobile Internet services imposed in the 10 districts of the state were extended for 48 hours more.

The administration had 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.

Guwahati and Dibrugarh have been placed under indefinite curfew till further orders in the wake of protests that intensified after the passage of the Bill in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.