Hyderabad, Sept. 11 -- The Assam Cabinet approved a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for implementing the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950, that empowers district commissioners to give "suspected foreigners" ten days to prove their Indian citizenship or face evacuation orders.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma stated that this move would allow the government to bypass the existing procedures for citizenship determination.

Speaking to the media, he said, "If the district commissioner is informed that someone is a foreigner, whether by the border police or other sources, the official will issue a notice giving that person 10 days to prove their citizenship."

If the documents submitted within that period do not satisfy the d...