Have you heard of a girl called Sharmila ?

Question

She has been fasting for more than three years against atrocities by armed forces in a State of India called Manipur?

Answer 1

INDIA: Fast-unto-death for Four and Half years in Manipur [mizzima.com]

Fast-unto-death for Four and Half years in Manipur
By Nava Thakuria/Mizzima News
May 7, 2005

Guwahati: Burning the fire of non-violence in the land of insurgents, a young lady has made an extraordinary protest against injustice in a Burma-bordering state. Irom Chanu Sharmila started her fastunto-death four and half years ago, demanding that the Indian government repeal the 1958 Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act from the Norhteastern Manipur State.

The curly-haired, fair complexioned Sharmila started her non-violent protest immediately after the Malom massacre of November 2, 2000 in which security personnel killed ten innocent people, and is still fasting today.

The Guinness Book of World Records has recognised Sharmila as the longest surviving fasting individual in the world. According to the Guinness Book, her fast represents the longest protest on a social cause by a single individual anywhere in the world.

Sharmila, 33, has in fact changed the face of protest in Manipur. Having just completed four and half years of her fasting on May 2, a frail Sharmila is kept in a well-guarded ward of the Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital in the Manipur capital city Imphal. She has been force-fed with a nasal tube by the doctors. The prolonged nasal feeding has caused severe complications to her health. Her conditions have deteriorated in the recent months. But still, she will not give up.

On November 20, 2004, India Prime Minster Dr Manmohan Singh assured Sharmila that the government would review the controversial law to fight insurgency in the region. Later, a review committee was constituted by the central government to review the imposition of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958 (AFSPA). Sharmila remained unmoved.

I will continue my non-violent agitation until my demand is fulfilled, she recently told government representatives.

Earlier, in August 2004, Chief Minister of Manipur, Okram Ibobi Singh, tried to persuade her to give up her fast as the state government had lifted the Disturbed Area Act (this act is preliminary to imposition of AFSPA somewhere) from the Imphal municipal areas. But she refused to entertain the request of the chief minister, as the decision of the cabinet was not up to her expectations (Read: totally lifting AFSPA from Manipur).

The AFSPA empowers the security forces to make arrests and enter property without a warrant, and to use excessive force (including shooting or killing, even if the lives of the members of the security force are not at imminent risk). The Act facilitates impunity because no person can initiate legal action against any member of the armed forces for anything done under the Act, without permission of the central government.

AFSPA was originally applied in Assam and Manipur and later amended in 1972 to extend jurisdiction to all NE states, including Nagaland, Tripura, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram. Insurgency-torn Manipur was placed entirely under AFSPA in 1980. Manipur has witnessed innumerable killings without recourse to legal action since then. Chief Minister Singh himself admits, Over 12,000 security personnel and insurgents, and 8000 innocent people have lost their lives to date.

Home to 30 ethnic groups, Manipur has the largest number of armed outfits (over 25) demanding anything from sovereignty to self-determination.

In the last decade, the armed forces have often been accused of brutalities, hiding behind the AFSPA. The brutal July 11 (2004) slaying of weaver Manorama Thangjam, 32, by the men of Assam Rifles sparked off a public outcry. When this failed to elicit any response from the authorities, grief-stricken angry women stripped naked and rattled the gates of Kangla Fort (headquarters of the Assam Rifles), demanding justice.

Born in 1972 to Irom Nanda and Irom Shakhi, Sharmila, the youngest of the 9 children, has always been considered both very brave and sensitive. On the third day of her fast-unto-death, Sharmila was arrested by the state police and charged of attempting to commit suicide. Sharmila has been held in judicial custody ever since.

In 2002, Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh told Sharmila that although the government would not be able to repeal the act, she should withdraw her agitation in order to foster peace in the state. Sharmila said in reply, I love peace very much... but first of all, we must have the right to justice.

Later in the year, a frustrated Singh told the Manipur State Assembly that the state government had spent around Rs 1.47 lakh in two years to keep Sharmila alive.

Sharmila has been supported by a number of human rights workers and social activists in the North East. Dr Gina Sangkham, President of Naga Women Union of Manipur, wrote to the central government, The Naga women endorse Sharmilas stand. We are solidly behind her. We appreciate her and share solidarity with her. On 24 September 2002, the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission and Imphal-based the Human Rights Alert had requested the Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam to intervene in Sharmilas case and demanded that the disturbed area status be removed from Manipur. Support for Sharmila has also come from Bangkok (Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development), Kathmandu (South Asia Forum for Human Rights), London (Institute of Race Relations) and Netherlands (Transnational Institute of the Netherlands).

Despite the struggle, Sharmila has kept her creative force alive. She has completed two poetry books in Manipuri language consisting of 100 poems. She also writes articles in Manipuri language for local newspapers and often consoles her weeping mother at her bedside. Her elder brother, Irom Shinghajit, who regularly visits Sharmila in the ward to assure her that they would not go against her wishes, apprehends that she is half dead.

The North East Network, a Guwahati-based womens organisation salutes her fortitude and will power. The network feels that it is her exemplary sacrifice that has compelled the people to take notice of the inhuman conditions existing in the underdeveloped states like Manipur.

Now the question arises: how can India so proud of her status as the largest democracy in the world, ignore the spirit of non-violent movement, especially when this movement was initiated by none other than the father of the Indian Nation, Mahatma Gandhi!


links:
http://www.mizzima.com/archives/news-in-2005/News-in-May/7-May-05-6.htm


07 May 2005


Posted on 2005-05-09

Answer 2

Irom Sharmila

Yes - what is it about her
Irom Sharmila is a symbol of a lay person fatigued with the atrocities committed. She has neither political affiliations, nor a strong background of an activist. She was seen in public for the first time during the people's enquiry headed by Justice (Rtd.) Suresh.

Answer 3

A girl fasting for 3 years ? Ever try to fast for three weeks ? Try it and let me know after 3 weeks. Maybe she is M.K Gandhi's re-incarnation.

Answer 4

Wouldnt you be dead if you fast for 3 years? I thought that is impossible.

Maybe shes sneaking some midnight snacks?

Answer 5

What? No Jenny Craig quips?

Answer 6

she must be hungry at 1:39pm

Answer 7

nope. never heard of her.

Answer 8

no i have not. i would like more info if u have any.

Answer 9

NO I have not.