Ten year hunger strike!

The Indian Express published this editorial:

On Tuesday {November 2}, Manipuri poetess and human rights activist Irom Sharmila completed 10 years of her fast-unto-death and created a record in the history of resilience. She is forcibly fed and kept alive by way of naso-gastric intubation at a government hospital in Imphal. To keep her in continued detention, charges of attempt to commit suicide are repeatedly slapped on the “Iron lady of Manipur” as she is now fondly called. Even now, an end to her fast does not seem to be in sight as the government is not prepared to repeal the draconian Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act despite making many promises. Her only demand is repeal of the Act, enacted in 1958 as a temporary measure to deal with insurgency. Wherever the Act has been in force, there have been strong protests.It was moved by the Malom massacre of 10 innocent people, including an elderly woman, waiting at a bus-stand on November 2, 2000, by the Assam Rifles men that Sharmila began her fast. The Act empowers the security forces to arrest, detain and even kill those who arouse suspicion. It also empowers them to search and destroy properties on mere suspicion. As a result, disappearance of persons, extra-judicial killings, torture and rape become routine in such areas. Though Sharmila’s is essentially a one-person agitation, her demand enjoys a groundswell of support in not just Manipur but across the whole Northeast. Countless have been the occasions when the Manipuris have extended their support to her cause. But all the bandhs, protests and self-immolations have been of no avail as the government is determined to keep the Act on the statute.Four years ago, when every form of protest failed to move the state, the elderly women of Manipur were left with only their naked body to protest. What infuriated them was the rape and murder of Thangiam Manorama by the men of the Assam Rifles. The whole world was shocked by the unprecedented form of protest but the government thought only about a temporary solution to the law and order problem. The BP Jeevan Reddy Commission, set up to look into the demand, also recommended repeal of the Act. The highest court of the land has also, on occasions, taken a stand against the Act but it still remains in force as if all the laws of the land are not sufficient to administer Manipur without this 52-year-old draconian Act that goes against all the tenets of accountability.