IMPHAL, Oct 15 - Normal life in Manipur, particularly the State capital here, came to a standstill on Monday during the Statewide total shutdown called by armed groups including CorCom, a Co-ordination Committee of a group of insurgent organisations, from last midnight, to observe the �National Black Day�.
CorCom has been observing October 15 as �National Black Day� every year and called the total shutdown as a mark of opposition against the alleged annexation of Manipur into the Indian Union on October 15,1949. It alleged that the then Manipur King was forced to sign the merger agreement on September 21,1949 under duress.
Major business establishments in Imphal including the two main markets, Thangal and Paona bazaar, besides other satellite markets in and around greater Imphal areas, remained closed. All forms of transport like the inter-State and district transport services remained suspended.
Educational institutes, both government and private, also remained closed during the strike. The functioning of government offices were also severely affected. But the shutdown had no impact in some district headquarters except the transport services.
The State Government had tightened security measures in and around the State capital to prevent any possible unwanted incident during the shutdown.