Japan PM cancels visit amid protests

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 13

The Narendra Modi government’s plan to showcase India’s North-East to the wider world had to be postponed for another day after Japanese PM Shinzo Abe decided not to visit Guwahati and Bangladesh Home Minster AK Abdul Momin put off his visit to Shillong.

Abe’s visit had hung in balance till Thursday morning as the government was confident of bringing the situation under control. But when there was no impact of PM Modi’s early morning tweets assuring the people of Assam that their culture and language will be preserved. On the contrary people defied restrictions in Brahmaputra Valley, the government began contemplating alternate venues but the Japanese side was unwilling.

Abe along with PM Modi were to hold their annual dialogue for the first time in North-East’s biggest city of Guwahati and then travel to Imphal to pay homage at the war memorial. Around the same time, Union Home Minister Amit Shah was to link up with his Bangladeshi counterpart AK Abdul Momin in Shillong who was to travel by road from Bangladesh.

However, both Abe and Momin called off their visits because of the unrest roiling some northeastern states after Parliament passed the Citizenship Amendment Bill. The Ministry of External Affairs here said Abe’s visit was called off after mutual discussions between both sides. Bangladesh media reported that Momin’s visit was postponed upon the Foreign Ministry’s advice which did not deem it safe for him to travel by road to Shillong.