17 IROM CHANU SHARMILA-AN ICON OF NON-VIOLENT RESISTANCE

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Introduction

 

Irom Chanu Sharmila, popularly called Irom Sharmila, was born on 14 March, 1972 in Kongpal, Imphal in Manipur, one of the Seven States of the North East. She belongs to the Meitei TribeA and is the daughter of Irom Chanu Nanda (Father) and Irom Ongbi Sakhi (Mother). Irom is a Civil Rights activist and Political activist and is known as „the Iron lady of Manipur‟. She is also lovingly called Mengoubi (the fair one) in her state. Irom has been on hunger strike against the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1958B since 5th November 2002 and has become the „longest hunger striker in world history‟ till date. The entire North East region has been facing State Repression, insurgency and intra-tribal warfare since a long time, and Irom grew up in this atmosphere of violence and insecurity. The incident which impacted Irom‟s life the most was the Malom Massacre.(1) Malom is a town in Imphal, Manipur. On 2 November, 10 civilians including a 62-year old woman and a girl who was just 18 years of age and had been the recipient of the 1988 National Bravery Award, were shot dead in cold blood, while waiting for a bus. The Indian Paramilitary Force operating in the State, viz. The Assam Rifles, was allegedly responsible for the killing. Irom was fasting for Goddess Lakshmi on that day, a Thursday. She could not break her fast after 2ndNovember, 2000, as she demanded that the Indian Government repeal the AFSPA, which had given unbridled power to the armed forces and the paramilitary to raid, arrest, rape, torture or kill with impunity. She declared that she would not eat or drink and even look at the mirror or comb her till the Act had been repealed. On 8 November, 2000, she was arrested under the charge of trying to „commit suicide‟, under Section 309 of the Indian Penal CodeC, and was remanded to judicial custody for 15 days. As days passed, Irom‟s health condition deteriorated to such an extent that she had to be put on nasogastric intubationD, i.e. nasal forced feeding on 21 November, while she still remained in custody.

 

Sharmila will not break her Vow

 

Irom is released and re-arrested with professional regularity every year; she is kept free for a day-or-two and the same routine is enacted, because, according to the law, the maximum punishment under the section is 365 days of imprisonment. So far Irom Sharmila has spent 5,600 days in imprisonment, and has not even accepted a single morsel through the mouth. In all these years, she has met her mother only once, as she feels that seeing her might weaken her resolve to continue the battle.

 

On October 2nd, 2006, Irom was released and she went to Raj Ghat to pay respects through a floral tribute to Mahatma Gandhi, who has been her ideal. She went for a demonstration at Jantar Mantar in the evening. Here, hundreds of people from the North East living in Delhi, students from Colleges and the JNU, human rights activists, media persons and women‟s groups joined her in support of her struggle against AFSPA.

 

On 6 October, 2006, Irom was again arrested by the Delhi Police and sent to All India Institute of Medical Science, from where she wrote letters to the President of India, to the Prime Minister and also the Home Minister. Here she had occasion to meet Nobel Laureate and human Rights Crusader Shirin Ebadi, who promised to take the matter with the UN Human Rights Council. Sharmila‟s fast on 6 October had become a case of attempt to commit suicide; hence the arrest was justified by the Government. In August 2011, Irom called upon the anti-corruption leader Anna Hazare to visit Manipur. In response two representatives from the Movement did come to Manipur and met her. In September 2011, the Communist Party of India, Marxist Leninist (KN Ramachandran) declared a 1-month long Nationwide Agitation comprising dharnas, hunger strikes, silent rallies and meetings in support of the cause taken up by Irom Sharmila. The Party also declared in its Peoples‟ Convention in Orissa that it would continue its movement against AFSPA. The State Unit of the Trinamul Congress also urged its leader Mamata Banerjee, in October 2011, to help raise the issue at the National level. Irom also made an appeal to Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to repeal the draconian, anti-people Act.

 

Save Sharmila Solidarity Campaign

 

The Save Sharmila Solidarity Campaign was started in Delhi on 2 October 2011, at Jantar Mantar. Many non-Manipuri Organisations as well as the National Alliance of Peoples‟ MovementsE and other Civil Society Groups joined the dharna at Jantar Mantar. The Campaign was launched in 21 states and it was decided that the campaign would end on 10 December, International Human Rights Day.The campaign laid down four main demands: i) initiating a dialogue with Ms. Sharmila, ii) sending an all-party delegation for talks, iii) sending members of the National Commission for Women to assess her condition and iv) deputing a special team of doctors from New Delhi to examine her. On 10 December, many leading social activists sat on a day-long hunger strike and then marched from India Gate to Rashtrapati Bhavan to submit the signatures collected during the Campaign. As part of the campaign, cycle rallies were held in several states and a Caravan from Srinagar to Imphal, covering 10 States was also conducted.Various organizations supported the campaign. mainly NAPM, Asha Parivar, Mission Bhartiyam, Mahila Chetna Kendra, Yuva Koshish, Khudai Khidmatgar, Manushi, Sadbhavna Mission, We the Common People, SAMAR, Le Mashale, SIO, Asian Centre of Social Studies. Though 50 Organisations had started the campaign, the number of support organizations increased rapidly in no time. In November, 100 women had formed a human-chain at Ambari, Guahati District, to express solidarity to Irom. Civil Society Groups sat on a 24-hr long dharna too (2).

 

Is Wanting to be Heard an Attempt to Commit Suicide?

 

Throughout her struggle, Irom Sharmila has refused to plead guilty to the charge of “attempt to suicide”, remaining committed to repeal of AFSPA. She says that her fast is only a peaceful political protest, not a violent, personal act of trying to kill herself. It is evident that the provisions of the law seem extremelyinadequate to deal with her condition and put up any feasible defense against her position. She remains confined to a bed in the Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital of Imphal and has spent 15 years trying to convince a deaf Government.Her selfless struggle is exemplary, and none can deny that her confinement has brought to the fore the limitations of the law of the land. Section 309 remains criminalised, and has been unjustly applied to a crusader; it remains an offence under the Indian Penal Code. . The Manipur government believes that it is under some moral obligation to keep Irom Sharmila alive even if it means that she has to remain confined to a Hospital bed with a tube in her nose for the rest of her life, and be cut off from any kind of social existence.

 

Reactions on Sharmila’s case and the Continuing Drama

 

As a response to the latest round of Sharmila‟s release-arrest-release cycle, Meenakshi Ganguly, the South Asia director of Human Rights WatchF said the State has a responsibility to protect her life”. “But it would be much better to engage with her, try and address her demands, instead of arresting her. Let us be clear. Sharmila is not attempting suicide. She is asking for the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. And this is not a particularly extraordinary demand. Many, both in Jammu and Kashmir and in the Northeast, where this law is in force, have sought its repeal. Several government commissions, human rights groups, activists, judicial experts, United Nations special mandate holders, have all said that AFSPA [Armed Forces Special Powers Act] is a highly abusive law and should be repealed, replaced with one that respects rights.”

 

There have been two occasions when courts in Manipur ruled that Sharmila was just trying to get her voice heard. The Chief Judicial Magistrate in an order had said: “The accused person [Irom Sharmila] is not trying to kill or destroy herself, but to suffer herself of all deprivations so that her voice or demands are heeded, listened and fulfilled”.

 

In August 2014, the Imphal Sessions Court had passed a sgimilar order. At that time, Sharmila had been released, during which she addressed a press conference for the first time in her life of protest. She spoke of “living, swallowing her tongue all these years, so that violence could end”.

 

But the cyclical farce repeated just two days later. Sharmila was taken away as the women who had gathered there resisted, fought back, even pelted stones at the police van. Sharmila, herself shouted and screamed but was lifted and taken away in the melee. A fresh FIR was filed and once again Section 309 was used. A government doctor who had examined her over the two days she was free had told journalists that “she [Sharmila] was very dehydrated,” perhaps prompting concerns over her health, and leading to her subsequent arrest.

 

Even a small opportunity for talks of some sort or some form of engagement with the protestor had been lost. When journalists met Manipur‟s deputy chief minister Gaikhangam Gangmei later in the day, he said: “What can we do, we can‟t let her die. This way she lives”. A dialogue, a conversation, a memorandum, a plea from the Cabinet, a political engagement, none of these ideas seemed to be on the minister‟s mind.

 

In 2014, Amnesty International also demanded that the Indian Government release Irom Sharmila „immediately and unconditionally‟.

 

Politically Motivated Hunger Strike vs Attempt to Commit Suicide

 

In 1975 and 1991, the World Medical Association, while establishing guidelines for doctors involved in hunger strikes, made a distinction between the mentally or psychologically impaired individual who chose a voluntary fast, and the hunger striker who chose this form of protest for a political goal. This enabled them to label the action of the former as a suicide. In a paper “Medical and Ethical Aspects of Hunger Strikes in Custody and the Issue of Torture”, the physician Hernan Reyes said: “The clear-cut case of a politically motivated hunger striker is different. The striker does not want to die: on the contrary, he wants to „live better‟, by obtaining something for himself, his group or his country. If necessary, he is willing to sacrifice his life for his cause, but the aim is certainly not suicide.”

 

In the case of Irom Sharmila, the thin dividing line between attempt to suicide and hunger strike as a form of political protest is getting blurred. The force-feeding which had been given legitimacy as an act of life-saving, has in thepast 16 yearssnatched her freedom and her well-being. She is being formally kept alive to put iton record that the state does not let her die. Maybe Sharmila dead would pose a greater danger for the State than Sharmila alive.

 

“I won‟t eat anything till I achieve my aim,” said Sharmila when she left the court of the chief judicial magistrate.

 

The veteran Anna Hazare had written to Sharmila urging her to join his protest in the national capital of Delhi, when he had begun his crusade for the Jan Lokpal Bill. Sharmila had replied from her hospital bed: “I am unlucky because I cannot come to New Delhi. I am not a free Indian.”

 

Sharmila’s Stand Vindicated

 

The Supreme Court, on 10 August, 2015 said the fact that compensation has been paid to the next of kin of victims of security forces’ encounter killings in Manipur “amply indicate” that such encounters were fake and the question would be “were they valid”.It asked the Manipur government to appraise the court of the steps taken after compensations were paid to kith and kin of deceased persons. “If you think it was a valid encounter, then why are you paying compensation? Have you challenged any of the orders?” the social justice bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and UU Lalit said.

 

The court had been told by the amicus curiae that the State and the Central Governments and NHRCG had provided a list of 62 killings that were sought to be passed-off as those of militants by security forces. The court asked Manipur government to file its reply to a petition by one Suresh Singh seeking repeal of Armed Forces Special Powers Act.

 

Earlier, the court had asked the Centre, Manipur government and NHRC to submit a comprehensive report on alleged fake encounter cases in the state, including 62 such cases where FIRs have not even been lodged. Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for Extra Judicial Execution Victims’ Families Association, had said “in all these 62 cases, not a single FIR has been lodged against any of the accused.”

 

Statement of Irom Sharmila in Court,6 October , 2015

 

Manipuri Civil Rights activist Irom Sharmila told a Delhi court on 6 October 2015, after 15 long years of hunger strike, that the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act should be scrapped as it has caused “immense hardship” to the people of the State and thousands of innocent persons have been killed over the years.

 

In her statement which was recorded before a DelhiCourt, in a case in which she faces trial for allegedly trying to commit suicide while undertaking fast-unto-death at Jantar Mantar in 2006, Ms. Sharmila said that the police had violated her fundamental rights and had implicated her in a false case. Ms. Sharmila broke down in the Court while recording her statement (3).

 

She told the Metropolitan Magistrate Mr.Akash Jain that she had sat on a fast at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on October 4, 2006, but had been forcibly removed by the police.

 

“It is correct that I had sat on fast at Jantar Mantar on October 4, 2006 but I have been fasting since 2000 and same has not affected my health and I have never refused medical checkup…,” she told the Court.

 

“I have been demanding that AFSPA be repealed or lifted from Manipur as the same has caused immense hardship to the common man of Manipur. Thousands of innocent people have been killed; hundreds of rapes have taken place on Manipur’s women. No action has been taken under the garb of AFSPA,” she said.

 

She also said in the court that she has been continuing her struggle against AFSPA and as the issue was getting worldwide attention, the police had violated her fundamental rights and had forcibly removed her from Jantar Mantar during her fast in 2006.

 

The court concluded the recording of Ms. Sharmila‟s statement, during which she said that she wanted to examine witnesses in her defence. The court had fixed the matter for the very next day, when Ms. Sharmila‟s lawyer filed a list of defence witness. The court had on June 6, 2015 concluded recording of prosecution evidence and had fixed the case for recording of Ms. Sharmila‟s statement under section 313 of CrPC.

 

Ms. Sharmila had earlier told the court that she was very much eager to eat if she got the assurance that the “draconian” act would be revoked.

 

Widespread discrimination was being done with the people from Northeast, she had alleged, adding she never intended to commit suicide and it was just a protest against AFSPA.The court had on March 4, 2013, put her on trial after she had refused to plead guilty to the charge of attempting to commit suicide (section 309 of IPC).

 

Well known as the „Iron Lady‟, Ms. Irom Sharmila had earlier told the court that her protest was non-violent.

 

The Iron Lady makes Headlines but Who Cares ?

 

Timeline

 

3 November, 2015

 

Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Imphal West, Manipur. Irom Sharmila Chanu had been brought there by ambulance from the Security Ward of Imphal‟s Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences. Date fixed for 9 November.(4)

 

9 February, 2016

 

Irom Sharmila released from judicial custody, resumes hunger strike. (5)

 

2 March, 2016

 

Imphal:Around 40 hours after the Court ordered her release, police has taken Irom Chanu Sharmila to JNIMS hospital for medical check-up from Shahid Minar where she has been continuing her indefinite hunger strike at around 10.45 am today.She is likely to be formally arrested from the hospital under Section 309 for staging the stir. (6)

 

The Amnesty International on Wednesday, 2nd March, said that the re-arrest of Irom Sharmila by the Manipur police on the charge of attempting suicide, two days after a Manipur court acquitted her of an identical charge, reveals the “cynicism of authorities in the state.”

 

Tara Rao, Programmes Director at Amnesty India, in a press statement released here on Wednesday, said, “Courts have now ruled three times in 18 months that Irom Sharmila‟s hunger strike is not an attempt at suicide. Her re-arrest on the same charge flies in the face of common sense, and amounts to downright abuse of the criminal justice system.”

 

08 March, 2016

 

Imphal: On the occasion of International Women’s Day, Social Welfare Minister AK Mirabai and Khangabok AC MLA O Landhoni today met Irom Chanu Sharmila at the security ward of JNIMS hospital and spoke to her. They presented her with gifts. (7)

 

29 March, 2016

 

Sharmila appeared before Judge H Singh at the Patiala House Court in a case of attempt to commit suicide during her fast at Jantar Mantar on 6 October 2006, soon after being released in Imphal.

 

30 March, 2016

 

Manipuri civil rights activist Irom Sharmila was acquitted on Wednesday in a case of attempted suicide registered in 2006 when she undertook a fast-unto-death at Jantar Mantar here.

 

Metropolitan Magistrate Harvinder Singh asked her to furnish a personal bond for Rs.10,000.

 

When she refused, the court extended the bond she furnished when she was granted bail earlier. The Magistrate said since Ms. Sharmila was in judicial custody in other cases and her presence could be secured before the appellate court if the present order was challenged, her personal bond was being extended for six months.(8)

 

03 May, 2016

 

Imphal: Anti-AFPSA campaigner Irom Chanu Sharmia was produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate Imphal West under Section 309 for staging an indefinite hunger strike at Shahid Minar today.The Court remanded her to judicial custody till May 17. (9)

 

17 May, 2016:

 

Imphal: Marathon hunger striker Irom Chanu Sharmila today refused to appear before JMIC, Imphal West.Although, she was supposed to appear before CJM Imphal West, Sharmila was directed to appear before JMIC Imphal as the Judge of the former Court was on leave.However, the anti-AFSPA campaigner refused to appear before the Court.The Court fixed May 31 as the next date of hearing.(10)

 

25 May 2016

 

IMPHAL: RSS supports continuing the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) to flush out terrorists from J&K, Nagaland, Manipur and other disturbed areas of the northeast, indicating that the Sangh and the ruling BJP are on the same page on this issue of strategic importance.

 

Just at a time when Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) formed its first government in Northeast, its ally, the RSS reiterated its stand on AFSPA.

 

Terming those going against AFSPA as „pseudo-human rightists‟ who try to implicate Army jawans on fake grounds and even misusing girls for allurement, the RSS mouthpiece,Organiser stated that AFSPA is the only act that can rescue jawans who are falsely implicated.

 

Awards

  • Irom Sharmila was awarded 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”. She shared the award with Lenin Raghuvanshi of People’s Vigilance Committee on Human Rights, a northeastern Indian human rights organisation.
  • In 2009, she was awarded the first Mayillama Award of the Mayilamma Foundation “for achievement of her nonviolent struggle in Manipur.
  • In 2010, she won a lifetime achievement award from the Asian Human Rights Commission.
  • In the same year, she won the Rabindranath Tagore Peace Prize of the Indian Institute of Planning and Management, which came with a cash award of 5,100,000 rupees, and the Sarva Gunah Sampannah “Award for Peace and Harmony” from the Signature Training Centre.
  • In 2013 Amnesty International declared her a Prisoner of conscience, and said she “is being held solely for a peaceful expression of her beliefs. The influence made by Irom Sharmila is often considered as powerful as the influences by personalities in the past and present.

 

What is the AFSPA, that Sharmila talks about?

 

Armed Forces (Special Powers) Acts (AFSPA), are Acts of the Parliament of India that grant special powers to the Indian Armed Forces in what each act terms “disturbed areas”.One such Act was passed on September 11, 1958 and was applied to the Seven Sister States in India ortheast, including Manipur, to which Irom Sharmila belongs. The Armed Forces Special Powers Otdinance was promulgated by the British in the year on August 15, 1942 to suppress the Quit India Movement. The Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) Special Powers Ordinance 1958 was promulgated by the then President Dr. Rajendra Prasad on 22 May 1958. It was replaced by Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) Special Powers Act, 1958 on 11 September 1958.

 

The Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) Special Powers Act,1958 empowered only the Governors of the States and the Administrators of the Union Territories to declare areas in the concerned State or the Union Territory as ‘disturbed’. The reason for conferring such a power as per “Objects and Reasons’ appended to the Bill was that, “keeping inview the duty of the Union under Article 355 of the Constitution, inter alia, to protect every State against internal disturbance, it is considered desirable that the Central government should also have power to declare areas as ‘disturbed’, to enable its armed forces to exercise the special powers”. The territorial scope of Act also expanded to the five states of the North-East, – Assam,

 

Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura, ArunachalPradesh and Mizoram. It has, however been revoked in Tripura. In addition, the words, “The Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) Special Powers Act, 1958” were substituted by “Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958”, getting the acronym of AFSPA, 1958.

 

Why Irom Sharmila thinks that as Long as AFSPA is in Force, She as well thePeople of Manipur cannot Live a Life of Dignity

 

According to the Draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), in an area that is proclaimed as “disturbed”, an officer of the armed forces has the following powers:

 

  • After giving such due warning, fire upon or use other kinds of force even if it causes death, against the person who is „acting against law or order‟ in the „disturbed‟ area, for the maintenance of public order,
  • Destroy any arms dump, hide-outs, prepared or fortified position or shelter or training camp from which armed attacks are made by the armed volunteers or armed gangs or absconders wanted for any offence.
  • To arrest without a warrant anyone who has committed cognizable offences or is reasonably suspected of having done so and may use force if needed for the arrest.
  • To enter and search any premise in order to make such arrests, or to recover any person wrongfully restrained or any arms, ammunition or explosive substances and seize it.
  • Stop and search any vehicle or vessel reasonably suspected to be carrying such person or weapons.
  • Any person arrested and taken into custody under this Act shall be made present over to the officer in charge of the nearest police station with least possible delay, together with a report of the circumstances occasioning the arrest.
  • Army officers have legal immunity for their actions. There can be no prosecution, suit or any other legal proceeding against anyone acting under that law. Nor is the government’s judgment on why an area is found to be disturbed subject to judicial review.
  • Protection of persons acting in good faith under this Act from prosecution, suit or other legal proceedings, except with the sanction of the Central Government, in exercise of the powers conferred by this Act.(11)

 

Committees and Commissions on AFSPA

 

View of the United Nations on AFSPA

 

When India presented its second periodic report to the United Nations Human Rights Committee in 1991, members of the UNHRC had asked numerous questions about the validity of the AFSPA. They questioned the constitutionality of the AFSPA under Indian law and asked how it could be justified in light of Article 4 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ICCPR. On 23 March 2009, UN Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay asked India to repeal the AFSPA. She termed the law as “dated and colonial-era law that breach contemporary international human rights standards.”

 

On 31 March 2012, the UN asked India to revoke AFSPA saying it had no place in Indian democracy. Christof Heyns, UN’s Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions said, “…. AFSPA was described to me as ‘hated’ and ‘draconian’. It clearly violates International Law. A number of UN treaty bodies have pronounced it to be in violation of International Law as well.”

 

Justice (Retd.) B.P. Jeevan Reddy Commission on AFSPA

 

In 2004, in the wake of intense agitation that was launched by several civil society groups following the death of Thangjam Manorama, while in the custody of the Assam Rifles and the indefinite fast undertaken by Irom Sharmila, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil visited Manipur and reviewed the situation with the concerned state authorities. In the same year, Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh assured activists that the central government would consider their demand sympathetically.

 

The Central Government, accordingly set up a five-member Committee under the Chairmanship of Justice B P Jeevan Reddy, former Judge of the Supreme Court. The panel was given the mandate of reviewing the provisions of AFSPA and advising the Government of India.

 

The Reddy committee submitted its recommendations on June 6, 2005. However, the government failed to take any concrete action on the recommendations. The then Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee had rejected the withdrawal or significant dilution of the Act on the grounds that “it is not possible for the armed forces to function” in “disturbed areas” without such powers.

 

The 147-page report recommended, “the Act, for whatever reason, has become a symbol of oppression, an object of hate and an instrument of discrimination and high handedness. It is highly desirable and advisable to repeal the Act altogether, without, of course, losing sight of the overwhelming desire of an overwhelming majority of the [North East] region that the Army should remain (though the Act should go).” (12)

 

Santosh Hegde Commission on encounter deaths in Manipur

 

A high-power commission headed by retired Supreme Court Judge, Santosh Hegde was constituted in January 2013 to probe six encounter deaths in Manipur. The Committee, which comprised of former Supreme Court Judge Santosh Hegde, ex-CEC J M Lyngdoh and a senior police officer, has said in its report that the probe showed that none of the victims had any criminal records. The Report which was submitted on 30 March, 2013, was made public only in July. (13)

 

Justice J.S. Verma Committee Report

 

On January 24, 2013, Justice J S Verma Committee report had not only recommended amendments to the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) but even questioned its continuance in conflict areas.

 

The report had recommended that the Act’s provision of seeking sanction from the central government before initiating any legal action against an armed forces personnel should be done away with in case of sexual crimes like outraging the modesty of a woman and rape. Justice Verma observed that “There is an imminent need to review the continuance of AFSPA and AFSPA-like legal protocols in internal conflict areas as soon as possible. This is necessary for determining the propriety of resorting to this legislation in the area(s) concerned.” (14)

 

 

Women’s Committee wants AFSPA Repealed

 

The High Level Committee on Status of Women was set up by the UPA government in 2013 to do a comprehensive study on the status of women since 1989, and to evolve appropriate policy interventions based on a contemporary assessment of economic, legal, political, education, health and socio-cultural needs of women. It submitted its report in 2015.One of its recommendations was to repeal AFSPA. (15)

 

Conclusion

 

Today, Irom Sharmila says she does not want to be idolised. She wants that the peace-loving people of the world should raise their voice against violence in the name of AFSPA. She says she doesn‟t want to die; she wants to fly like a bird with a message of peace and humanity across the seven seas.

 

you can view video on IROM CHANU SHARMILA-AN ICON OF NON-VIOLENT RESISTANCE

REFERENCES

 

  1. http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/manipurs-malom-massacre-high-court-orders-rs-5-lakh-compensation-for-victims-families-709536
  2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qusGHhNl4Uc
  3. http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/irom-sharmila-breaks- down-in-delhi-court-reiterates-demand-for-afspa-repeal/article7730404.ece
  4. http://scroll.in/article/801468/feeding-irom-sharmila-a-protest-that-goes-on-day-after-day
  5. http://www.hindustantimes.com/india/irom-sharmila-released-from-judicial-custody-resumes-hunger-strike/story-r5lbO2M2y85PIcFyCfpObK.html
  6.  http://www.e-pao.net/GP.asp?src=1..030316.mar16
  7. http://e-pao.net/GP.asp?src=4..090316.mar16
  8. .http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/manipuri-rights-activist-irom-sharmila-acquitted-in-2006-attempt-to-suicide-case/article8413538.ece; http://thewire.in/2016/04/18/demanding-an-end-to-afspa-irom-sharmila-believes-in-the-power-of-struggle-30022/
  9. http://e-pao.net/GP.asp?src=Snipp10..040516.may16
  10. http://e-pao.net/GP.asp?src=14..180516.may16
  11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armed_Forces_(Special_Powers)_Act
  12. https://exposingafspa.wordpress.com/tag/jeevan-reddy-commission/
  13. https://humanrightsmanipur.wordpress.com/2013/07/24/report-of-the-justice-n-santosh-hegde-headed-commission-appointed-by-the-supreme-court-of-india/
  14. http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/dont-allow-armymen-to-take-cover-under-afspa-says-verma/article4337125.ece
  15. http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/committee-on-women-wants-afspa-repealed/#sthash.Ur6gjSdE.dpuf(All references accessed on 28 May 2016)