Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is considering cancelling his trip to northeast India amid unrest there (Ludovic MARIN)
<p>Tokyo (AFP) – Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is planning to scrap a visit to northeast India as the security situation there deteriorates following the passage of a controversial citizenship bill, media reported Friday.</p><p>Abe had announced plans to visit India from Sunday to Tuesday for talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.</p><p>According to reports in the Indian press, Modi and Abe were due to meet in the northeastern city of Guwahati in Assam state -– the epicentre of the protests of recent days.</p><p>They were then slated to visit a new Peace Museum in Manipur — another northeastern state — dedicated to the tens of thousands of soldiers, mostly Japanese, who died at the WWII Battle of Imphal between Japanese and Allied forces.</p><p>But Abe is rethinking the visit "because security is deteriorating there," public broadcaster NHK said, adding that Tokyo would make a formal announcement later Friday.</p><p>A foreign ministry official in Tokyo said he was unable to confirm the reports immediately. However, a briefing for foreign media on the trip was abruptly cancelled "because we are examining the local circumstances."</p><p>An AFP reporter in Guwahati said that dozens of hoardings for the India-Japan summit were lying on the ground after protesters tore them down.</p><p>On Thursday, police in northeast India opened fire on a crowd demonstrating against a new citizenship bill, killing two people and wounding several others.</p><p>Authorities deployed thousands of paramilitaries and blocked mobile internet access in the region to counter the protesters. </p><p>Local police, who joined the paramilitaries in clashes with demonstrators defying a curfew in Guwahati opened fire on the crowd with both blank and live rounds.</p><p>India’s Citizenship Amendment Bill, passed by the upper house of parliament on Wednesday, allows for the fast-tracking of citizenship applications from religious minorities from three neighbouring countries, but not Muslims.</p><p>The two demonstrators killed by police were among a large group being treated for various wounds at Guwahati Medical College and Hospital.</p><p></p>

Disclaimer: Validity of the above story is for 7 Days from original date of publishing. Source: AFP.