Manipuri activists Irom Sharmila ends fast, but says her fight will continue

Sixteen years after starting her hunger strike demanding the repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, Irom Chanu Sharmila has said she is ending her fast on Tuesday.

All these years, authorities force-fed her to keep her alive. It is only after her assurance that she was breaking her fast that the local court granted her bail.

Sharmila broke what was the world's longest fast by sipping honey and hot water, photo-journalist David Mayum said from the spot in Manipur capital Imphal. He has been following her all day with many other photographers.

"Now the doctors are removing her pipes that were used to force-feed her," Mayum said over the phone.

Sharmila says she will now marry her penfriend British-Goan Desmond Coutinho and also contest the Manipur Assembly elections as an Independent candidate.

The 44-year-old rights activist said she would join politics as she no longer believes her fast would lead to the repeal of the “draconian” Act.

“I am ending my fast and will now contest the elections as an independent,” she told journalists, emerging from a court here where she is facing trial for attempting suicide.

Photo credit: David Mayum

“I will join politics and my fight will continue,” said Sharmila, who has refused to eat or drink anything since November 2000, and has been force-fed through a nasal tube in Imphal’s Jawahar Lal Nehru Hospital. She is in a special ward which serves as her prison.

The Assembly elections are due early next year. Sharmila also expressed her desire to get married after leaving prison.

Her decision was welcomed by the BJP and the Congress. Some leaders said this was a 'victory for the Indian political system.'

Manipur's top human rights activist Babloo Loithongbam said: " Fasting or otherwise, Sharmila is the icon of the struggle to repeal AFSPA and she will continue her fight for sure."

Sharmila’s decision took everyone by surprise. Her elder brother Singhajit, who has been with her throughout her struggle, said he had never known she was going to terminate her fast. “I haven’t spoken to her in the last few days because of my bad health. I heard it from others,” he said.

 

Babloo Loitongbam, Director of Human Rights Alert Manipur, also said he too was taken by surprise but could understand her reasons. “If AFSPA has not been repealed in 15 years of her fast, it won’t happen in another 30 years,” he said.

In 2000, when the activist started her hunger strike, she had vowed not to enter her house or meet her mother till the government repealed the law. Since then, she has met her mother Sakhi Devi only once when she was also admitted to the same hospital in 2009.

Her brother recalled that during the early years of her fast, he often tried to convince her to end it.

On Nov 2, 2000, an Assam Rifles battalion allegedly killed 10 civilians in a village near Imphal.

Few days later, Sharmila started a fast, demanding the revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act which allows security forces to kill a person on suspicion without liability to face trial.

Sharmila’s non-violent resistance inspired collective protest against the Act in the northeastern States. It won her several awards, including the 2007 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights, which is given to “an outstanding person or group, active in the promotion and advocacy of peace, democracy and human rights.”

International organisations like Amnesty International have demanded her release.