Update on Irom Sharmila

[asakiyume]

Yesterday Irom Sharmila appeared in court in Delhi to answer a charge of attempted suicide in Delhi in 2006--actually just a continuation of her hunger strike in protest of the Armed Forces Special Protection Act, which gives the military impunity in Sharmila's home province of Manipur.

Standing before the court with a pipe in her nose - through which she has been force-fed since November, 2000 - Sharmila told the court she would eat her first bite in over a decade right there and then if the “draconian” AFSPA was repealed by the Modi government

. . .

The 41-year-old activist-poet also told Metropolitan Magistrate Akash Jain that she never intended to commit suicide and her fast was just a protest against AFSPA.
“I love my life very much,” she assured the judge as her eyes welled up.¹

She's scheduled for next appearance on July 17, but only if the government of Manipur deign to send her to Delhi again.

Meanwhile, also yesterday, a bomb went off in a market in Imphal, the capital of Manipur, killing two immigrant vegetable sellers. No one has claimed responsibility, and the theory I've seen most frequently in the few articles I've looked at is that it's motivated by anti immigrant sentiment.²

Will this make the government less willing to give up AFSPA?

The law was enacted so the army could act without fear of legal consequences precisely in situations like this--but you never want to empower your military to terrorize a civilian population. So ESPECIALLY now, the law should be repealed.

¹Avantika Mehta, "I Will Eat Right Now if AFSPA Is Repealed, Says Irom Sharmila," Hindustan Times, May 29, 2014.
² Sobhapati Samon, "2 Killed, 8 Injured in Imphal Blast," Assam Tribune, May 29, 2014, and TNN, "2 Migrant Workers Die in Imphal," Times of India, May 30, 2014. (Those are just two; there are more articles you can find.)

Comments closed; I present this just for information. As for what a person can do, it's the same old things a person can ever do, especially as an outsider. Regarding AFSPA, writing to the state department and urging them to stress to the government of India how important the rule of law and civil protections are for *all* people in India. Regarding Sharmila herself, you can write and express your support (PM me for an address).