The Centre has decided to deploy 20 additional companies of security forces to maintain law and order in strife-hit Manipur because of escalating violence even as life in the Meitei-majority Imphal valley was paralysed on Wednesday owing to the 24-hour shutdown called by a collective of 13 civil society organisations.

The shutdown was called in protest against the “abduction” of six persons from Jiribam district by suspected Kuki-Zo militants on Monday and the state government’s apparent inability to check the “frequent” militant attacks recently targetting the foothills from the Kuki-Zo inhabited hills.

An official said there was no news on the abducted persons but security forces were combing the areas in Borobekra to trace those who went missing soon after the gunfight near the police station on Monday.

The streets wore a deserted look during the shutdown that started at 6pm on Tuesday. The roads were empty barring a few private vehicles. Business establishments remained shut too. There was no untoward incident but tension was palpable during the shutdown.

Closed Ema Market in Imphal on Wednesday. Sourced by The Telegraph

The decision of the ministry of home affairs to deploy additional forces follows escalating violence starting with the November 7 arson and killing of a Hmar woman by suspected Meitei militants in Jiribam.

This has been followed by a series of what sources said were “retaliatory attacks” from the Kuki-Zo-inhabited hills in Jiribam, Imphal East and Imphal West districts, leading to the death of a Meitei woman farmer working in a paddy field last week.

But tension escalated after the killing of 10 suspected Kuki-Zo militants in a gunfight with security forces on Monday when they carried out simultaneous raids on a police station, relief camp and a CRPF post nearby.

The police have said “armed militants” were killed in a retaliatory firing but Kuki-Zo organisations asserted that they were village volunteers out on duty to “protect” their land and people. They also said that six persons from a relief camp were missing.

Owing to the increasing violence, the Centre decided to rush in 20 additional companies of security forces.

The additional forces are being sent from Assam and Tripura to maintain law and order with immediate effect, sources said.

With the additional deployment, the number of central force companies has gone up to 218 companies.

The collective of the 13 civil society organisations submitted a four-page memorandum to governor L.P. Acharya on Wednesday afternoon, seeking his and chief minister Biren Singh’s immediate intervention in the wake of the “escalating violence and insecurity across the state” to “address critical issues that affect the lives and safety of the citizens of Manipur”.