Rights activist to end 16-year fast against draconian law

Irom Sharmila to contest Indian state polls, archbishop backs fight against act that grants military impunity for its actions.

Irom Sharmila began her fast in November 2000 after witnessing the killing of 10 people by the army at a bus stop near her home in Manipur. She has been forcibly fed through a nasal tube. (ucanews.com photo)

New Delhi:  Rights activist Irom Sharmila has announced her decision to end her 16-year long fast to protest against a draconian anti-insurgency law in northeast India’s Manipur state, a decision welcomed by the local Catholic bishop.

Irom Sharmila on July 27 said she will end her fast against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) on Aug. 9 and would contest state polls due in early 2017. The law grants authority to the military to use lethal force in dealing with criminal suspects, to arrest without warrant and to detain indefinitely and without charge.

"I see a very positive sign in this," said Archbishop Dominic Lumon of Imphal, based in the Manipur state capital, noting that after long years of fasting to repeal a law that has been seen as the root cause of army excesses in the region, "Sharmila is giving another angle to this fight by way of joining politics."

Sharmila began her fast in November 2000 after witnessing the killing of 10 people by the army at a bus stop near her home in Manipur.

Shortly after commencing her protest, Sharmila was arrested on charges of trying to commit suicide. She has spent the intervening years in detention at a hospital in the state capital Imphal, and has been forcibly fed through a nasal tube.

"The government has not been listening to our voices and has been suppressing our movement. I will join politics to get our voices heard," she told media while announcing her decision in Imphal.

Archbishop Lumon, whose archdiocese covers the entire state, said civil society has been asking for the repeal of the draconian law because of army excesses and abuses connected with it in the area where the federal army continues to fight an insurgency.

He said human rights activists have every now and then criticized the law for the impunity it allows the armed forces, which has been in the past accused of violating human rights in the state.

He said the Indian federal government and the armed forces feel that the law is necessary in the state as "there are so many separatist groups" that indulge in infighting and violence against the army.

However, the archbishop said the controversial law is "obsolete and unnecessary and should be removed to improve the situation in the state."

Source: UCAN