And quiet flows her struggle... against a draconian Act

Human life is precious                                                     

Before life comes to an end                                        
Let me be light of darkness                                    
Nectar will be sown
A tree of immortality will be planted.

Before that, she was a poet, hidden from the world, yet with a heart that knew how to love. Her love was not only for the ones she was born to, but also for the spirit that sustained life. And anything which shattered that spirit made her sensitive heart bleed.

Her quiet work in Manipur among the underprivileged since her youth was something that spoke tonnes of her free yet deep mind.

Her calling was then in poetry, and she poured her angst out in words not only about the pangs of life but also about the spirit in beings that lay battered by the onslaughts of brute power.

So, it was not much of a surprise that she was haunted by the plight of people under the clutches of the AFSPA. Passed by parliament for just six months in 1958, the law is in place for over five decades, to be used to mute struggles for justice.

Sharmila had seen dark faces of the draconian Act; she was very moved by an incident when a woman was raped in front of her father-in-law by the security forces.

The law routed the spirit of the land unbridled; it couldn’t be stopped legally, with the supreme court allowing it and all UN recommendations to review it falling on deaf ears.

Sharmila silently saw all this, being a part of the human rights brigade in the state that had come out with an inquiry report on the extent to which the Act hit life.

The report was out on October 25, 2000, and on November 2 the same year, at a bus station in Malom, soldiers of Assam Rifles took aim at 10 people, including women and children, killing them on the spot in the aftermath of an attack against the forces.

Manipur was aghast at the incident. To Sharmila, the only way out was a protest that required her to lay at the altar, her life, her heart, and above all her soul. Silently, she began her fast on Nov 2, though she had to break it later.

But so much hurt was in the air around her that Sharmila could not help willing herself again to give up food and water on Nov 4, from when till date, her fast continues unhindered.

Since then, not a drop of water has gone down her throat nor has she eaten anything. Sharmila was arrested on Nov 5, 2000, on charges of attempt to suicide. Since then, a tube has remained an integral part of her body, through which she is fed for life to remain in her frail, pale yellow-skinned body.

Routine

And while her health takes a beating, her spirit soars high above the real world that celebrates her fast. Her systems have gone awry; yet so steadfast is her resolve, that she cleans her teeth with a swab of cotton and moistens her lips with spirit, lest drops of water go in.

But otherwise, her life is a flow of time, four hours of which everyday she devotes to yoga and the rest to books on spirituality and deep study of religion.

“She was a blue-eyed girl when she began her fast. Now she bears a serene calm on her face,” says Babloo Loithougbam, a close associate and head of Human Rights Alert, an activist forum. Poetry is still with her, her zest for beauty only multiplying despite being under arrest.

Sharmila’s life has been influenced by Gandhi, yet she is a prisoner of a government that swears on the Mahatma and his satyagraha. Her fame has spread, and she is now quite a youth icon in her state.

To express solidarity with her, a group of Manipuri women have formed the Sharmila Kanba Lub (Save Sharmila Forum) and have been going on relay fasts since 2008.

World over, too, her struggle has been noticed, with the South Korean city of Gwangju conferring the ‘Gwangju Prize for Human Rights’ on her in 2007.

Manipur is now gearing up to observe the 10th year of her fast, organising weeklong seminars, art exhibitions, plays and even commemorative fasts.

Across the world, the week is being observed by groups such as the Ireland-based Solidarity Frontline and Fourm Asia. Nobel Laureates are also coming together in her support.

There are allegations of lobbying, too, on Sharmila’s fast. She, at times, gets a Che-like aura, with T-shirts and posters done up to promote her and high melodrama over her fast and persona.

The AFSPA remains though her protest has helped loosen its grip. Any bad show of Act is now quick to hit headlines. “But we only hope that the government withdraws the Act. Time may be running out for Sharmila,” Dr Monisha Behl, chairperson of Northeast Network, says.

Yet the woman, herself, remains untouched by the popularity, immersed in her silent grit, with which she hopes for the day when Manipur will be free of the AFSPA.

And when that day dawns, she will return to her simplicity, start a family and write poetry, she recently told a Swedish journalist. But till then she will fast, probably telling herself — is there anything more beautiful than hope?