Irom Sharmila to end 16-year fast against AFSPA, to contest polls

Manipuri human rights activist Irom Sharmila Chanu has decided to end her 16-year long hunger strike demanding repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from the state.

Sharmila has instead decided to contest the 2017 Manipur Assembly polls as an independent candidate to continue her fight.

Sharmila made the announcement before the local media along with a handful of supporters. Sharmila said she will end the fast on August 9, the next date of her appearance before a court in capital Imphal.

Speaking to the media outside a Imphal court room, Sharmila said: “I feel that my fast is not bearing the result I want. I am not happy on how politicians and civil society reacted to my struggle over 16-long years. Recently, a Manipur police commando confessed to the media about fake encounters and how his seniors were involved. That was the time for the civil society to react. Manipur as a state had to take the matter up with the Centre. I have analysed and found that I need to change my strategy.”

The decision comes close on the heels of the landmark verdict by the Supreme Court on the issue of fake encounters in Manipur, where the apex court ordered a thorough probe into the killings.  The Supreme Court said use of “excessive or retaliatory force” by the armed forces or the police was not permissible in “disturbed areas” under AFSPA. Sharmila began her hunger strike against AFSPA on November 4, 2000, after the Malom massacre where soldiers from the Assam Rifles gunned down 10 civilians who were waiting at a bus stop.

Though Sharmila’s protests gained national and international attention, back in Manipur, the people seemed to be losing interest.

For 14 years, she was force fed through her nose in a special ward at a hospital in Imphal under arrest. A local court did release her in 2014, but once she resumed her hunger strike, she was arrested again.

Sharmila was offered tickets for the last Assembly polls by two political parties, but she denied. In fact, in 2011, Sharmila told the media that she wanted to “settled down” with her boyfriend Desmond Coutinho, a 48-year-old writer and activist from Goa.  But all along her struggle, Sharmila maintained that she would only quit fasting if AFSPA is repealed.

“We are a bit surprised. But we have to respect the fact that she has given 16 prime years of her life for this cause...We will talk to her to decide how she wants to take the fight from here,” said Babloo Loitongbom, a human rights activist and a close aide of Sharmila.