Shutdown over professor’s killing cripples life in Manipur

IMPHAL - A shutdown called by a students’ body to protest the murder of a Manipur University professor crippled normal life in the state Tuesday.

Most markets, businesses establishments, educational institutions, banks and non government offices remained closed, while traffic was thin.

“The shutdown was total and successful,” said a spokesman of the striking Manipur University Students’ Union (MUSU).

Mohammad Islamudin, 56, an economics professor and former dean of students’ welfare of Manipur University was shot dead Monday in the university campus at Canchipur, about 7 km north of here.

Officials said suspected separatists had murdered the academician. However, no individual or group has so far claimed responsibility for the killing.

“After the incident, security forces cordoned off the university and conducted raids. They carried out verification of all those present on campus, but there was no report of any arrests,” an official of the chief minister’s office told reporters.

“This is the most cowardly act of killing a teacher on campus. We will not spare anyone involved in it. Such incidents will not deter the people of Manipur from their efforts to make the state a peaceful place to live in,” Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh said in an official release.