Abe’s visit to India to be postponed

Tokyo, Dec 13 (IANS) The Japanese government has planned to postpone Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s upcoming visit to India, amid "intensifying violence in parts of the country" he was due to visit, a media report said on Friday.

Abe was due to leave Japan for India on Sunday for the three-day trip, Japanese public broadcaster NHK said in the report.

He was expected to hold talks with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in Guwahati which has become the epicentre of the street protests in the aftermath of the passing of the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019.

The Army had to be brought in to quell the violent protests which also claimed the lives of two persons.

Friday’s development comes a day after it was reported on Thursday that Bangladesh Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momin had cancelled his trip to India.

As per the Bill, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014 and facing religious persecution there will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.

The legislation was passed by Rajya Sabha on Wednesday and by the Lok Sabha in a midnight sitting little past Monday.

It got President Ram Nath Kovind’s nod on Thursday night.