21 Struggling Women of Manipur, and Armed Forces Special Powers Act-Irom Sharmila

Prof. Deepti Priya Mehrotra

1. Introduction

Manipur, in north-east India, has been marked by sharp political conflict and turmoil, over the past few decades. At the same time, it is known for an exceptionally rich culture, world-class theatre, sports, dance and literature. There are some 29 major tribal groups dwelling in the hill districts, classified into two broad ethnic dominations, Nagas and Kuki-Chins; while Imphal valley is inhabited by Meiteis, numerically the largest population group. Manipur was an independent kingdom since 33 A.D. with elaborate systems of governance; in 1891 A.D. it became a princely state under British suzerainty.

The people of Manipur struggled against colonial rule and, later, engaged in movements for justice vis-à-vis the Indian state. Over the centuries, people of valley and hills have interacted and depended on each other for their needs, their relations at times turbulent and other times peaceful. The last few decades have also witnessed rise in ethnic conflicts. i

2. Historical Background of Women’s Movements

Women of Manipur have held a central position in management of household, agriculture and trade. They played prominent roles in public protest, individually and in the collective: “The ancient and medieval period of folk oral literature of Manipuri language was the literature of protest. The protagonist was always a woman . . . The nucleus of female power in the group form is intact.”i i Ordinary women of Manipur had a right to collectively present grievances to the king. In response to women’s demand, a king sometimes granted reprieve to a person sentenced to death. Women often used their right of appeal to correct state policies.i i i During British regime, women waged two Nupilans, women’s wars, against unjust and exploitative policies.

The First Nupilan was fought in 1904 when Government issued an order for Manipuri men to go to Kabow, cut timber and build colonial offices and bungalows. Thousands of women demonstrated in Imphal, demanding withdrawal of this order for forced labour. Women vendors led the movement, including Sanajaobi Devi, Leishangthem Kethabi, Dhaballi Devi and Laishram Ningol Jubati Devi. The British summoned army reinforcements from neighbouring areas but were unable to quell the movement, and ultimately withdrew the order.

In 1917–19, Kukis rebelled against forced labour recruitment. In the mid-1920s, a movement in Tamenglong district mobilised people towards Naga unity, against unjust laws, compulsory porterage and exorbitant house tax. Gaidinlieu, a thirteen-year old girl of Ningkhao village, joined the movement in 1928, and took over leadership in 1931 after the British executed its leader, Jadonang. British forces captured her in October 1932 and sentenced her to life imprisonment. She spent most of her life in prison, in the Mizo hills and Meghalaya. When Jawaharlal Nehru visited Shillong in 1937, he met Gaidinlieu in jail and gave her the title `Rani’. After 1947 she was awarded a pension but kept in exile in Nagaland; in 1972 she was awarded a freedom fighter award, and in 1987 a Padma Bhushan.

The Second Nupilan took place in response to artificial famine in 1939, created by the British policy of exporting paddy which, coupled with hoarding, led to severe shortages. Women of Manipur petitioned the Political Agent for a ban on rice export. A women’s delegation confronted the President of Manipur State Durbar, T.A. Sharpe, and forced him to send a telegram to the Maharaja,who was out of Manipur. Leaders during this Nupilan included Chaobiton Devi, Ibemhal Devi, Tongou Devi and others. Women protesters gathered at the Telegraph Office, and by evening 4000 agitators surrounded the office. Policemen and sepoys attacked the women, about thirty of whom sustained injuries inflicted by batons and bayonets. On 13th December the Maharaja sent a telegram ordering immediate ban on export of rice, signalling a major victory for the people of Manipur.

The Second Nupilan burgeoned into a demand for democratic government. Women leaders Rajni Devi and Wangkhem Kumari advised women to confront officials who demanded exorbitant taxes. When Sawombung forest officials tried to collect tax from local women carrying forest produce for sale in Imphal, protesters confronted the corrupt officials, even ransacking their offices. Many similar incidents took place. Each woman would arm herself with a tem (stick used in weaving) and wear two phaneks (sarong), before going out. The authorities imprisoned several leaders, including Wahengbam ongbi Tonkhombini, Nonghtombam ongbi Khongnangne, Khetrimayum ongbi Oinam, and Thongom ongbi Amubi. Widespread unrest continued, and women traders shut down markets for as long as three years.

Later in the 1970s women organized themselves as a force against government policy of liberally licensing liquor vends. They formed `Nisha Bandh’ or anti-alcoholism groups, in different parts of Manipur. Walking in groups at night, they carried torches or lanterns, caught drunken persons and imposed fines on them. Their motivation was to protect young people from drugs and alcohol addiction. These women’s groups were dubbed Meira Paibis (literally, women who carry flaming torches).

3. Militarization and AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act)

Manipur regained independence along with India in August 1947, but on October 15, 1949, the last king, Budhachandra, signed a Merger agreement. India. It became a Part C state in the Indian union, creating widespread discontentment. People struggled for recognition as a full-fledged state, while some rebels kept up a demand for self-determination. Although Manipur became a full state in 1972, its economy which had deteriorated under colonial rule, continued to decline. The Indian state responded violently to insurgent groups. By the turn of the century, there were over 30 armed insurgent groups in Manipur, including United National Liberation Front (UNLF), People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK), the Kuki National Army (KNA) and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM). Some were separatists, while others demanded proper people-oriented development within the Indian union.

The main counter-insurgency measure taken by the Indian government is imposition of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). This Act was imposed in 1980 as a temporary measure, to curb insurgency, yet it has continued for well over three decades. AFSPA grants extraordinary powers to the armed forces: they can shoot and kill at will, simply on ground of suspicion that the person is a threat to law and order.i v As is well documentedv, this law has led to major atrocities by military and paramilitary personnel, with impunity granted to the perpetrators.

Over the years there have been countless rapes, encounter deaths and other atrocities by armed forces personnel, with the culprits protected by AFSPA against judicial processes. In the majority of cases, there is no documentation—no reports or investigation. A partial and incomplete list of violations details fourteen massacres, killing over 100 persons (1980–2000); fifty-seven instances of extrajudicial executionA of individuals (1980–2005); torture of eighty-three persons (1994–2004); ten cases of rape (1974–2004); and eighteen cases of enforced disappearance (1980–2000). This is bound to be only a fraction of the complete figures.

Families of victims filed cases in the Supreme Court against 1,700 extra-judicial killings in Manipur. In 2013 the Supreme Court of India confirmed that armed forces personnel were involved in rapes and killing of innocent people in Manipur, under cover of AFSPA. According to a report to the Supreme Court, compiled by judges of district courts in Manipur, “Crimes against women, more particularly relating to sexual harassment committed by armed forces, are now increasing in some states like ours. They (armed forces) think themselves placed at the elevated status of impunity by the legislation and think wrongly they are given licence to do whatever they like.” Some of the confirmed cases include: rape of a 15-year-old schoolgirl by two army personnel on October 4, 2004 — she committed suicide the same day; and killing of Amina, a young mother who was shot by CRPF personnel while putting her baby to sleep at her home in Naorem village. vi

Relentless crimes against ordinary women, children and men have led to continuous demand by women’s groups and human rights groups, against the imposition of AFSPA, and intensive struggles for justice. Women’s groups expressed strong opposition to AFSPA since it was imposed, in 1980vi i .

4. Women’s Groups in Manipur – Against Militarization

Throughout Manipur, Meira Paibis and other women’s groups take up issues related to militarization and military excesses.

Valleyrose Hungyo, editor of Tangkhul newspaper Aja Daily, recalls in 1967, when she was just ten, the army attacked her village. Many villagers were displaced, never to return; many were killed. The government provided no records of villages destroyed in the name of counter-insurgency. In 1974, a young Tangkhul girl in the village was raped by armed forces, and she later committed suicide. The community, especially women, rose in protest and formed the Tangkhul Shanao Long, a women’s group.vi i i

All over the state, women set up Meira Paibi groups in their localities. Ordinary women of villages and towns form the rank and leadership of these groups. Meira Paibis patrol neighbourhoods at night, flaming torches held aloft, to safeguard their communities against search operations by security forces. When something untoward happens, anybody can sound an alarm and other women would rush to the spot. Meira Paibi groups set up shelters called Meira Shanglens, in their localities.

Virtually every community in Manipur developed a strong women’s front and carried out similar action for protection of the women, children and men of their area. In 1994, women from 13 Naga tribes of Manipur met in Ukhrul and formed the Naga Women’s Union, to campaign for women’s rights, and strive for peace through women’s mediation. Women’s groups in the state include the Naga Mother’s Association, Kuki Women’s Association, Lamkang Women’s Union, Mayan Women’s Union and Chothe Women’s Union. The women’s groups are well known as active guardians of their communities, and campaigners for women’s rights.

All these groups oppose militarization, and AFSPA. They also take up issues specific to women, such as rape and molestation. They are uncompromisingly pitted against state violence, and frequently work with each other across ethnic lines.i x

In 1980, most of Manipur was declared a Disturbed Area and AFSPA was imposed. On 14 May 1980, women submitted a memorandum to the chief minister demanding removal of the Disturbed Area clause and revocation of AFSPA. They held a mass meeting at Mapal Kangjeibung, Imphal, and formed an organisation called Manipur Nupi Kanglup (MNK). MNK organized a rally on 28 May, at which some 10,000 women gathered, defying a ban on mass meetings. Police cracked down on the gathering and arrested a large number of women, and took them away in trucks. A twenty-five-year-old pregnant woman, Piyari Devi of Salanthong, fell from the truck and died.

Ima Taruni, a senior Meira Paibi leader, relates, ‘The government did not care. But we could not bear the loss of one precious life. After Piyari’s death, we became all the more committed to the cause of putting an end to all such atrocities.’x Whenever the army picks up a youngster, Meira Paibis try to protect the young person from arbitrary injustice. They argue that unless AFSPA is removed, youngsters would continue to join underground groups. Rather than curb insurgency, the Act is actually motivating young people to become insurgents. Ima Taruni notes that insurgents are ordinary boys who lack good education and dignified livelihood options, and, angry about army atrocities, take up arms. Meira Paibis consistently try to protect youngsters from the recruitment efforts of insurgent groups.

5. Fast for Justice: For Repeal of AFSPA

On November 2, 2000, Indian security forces gunned down 10 innocent people standing at a bus stop in Malom village, near Imphal. Irom Sharmila, an ordinary young woman, spontaneously decided to go on a protest fast. She went to the site of the massacre and began her fast. Many people gathered around her in solidarity with her demand for repeal of AFSPA. Within days, she was arrested by the police and sentenced under Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) — attempt to suicide – to a year in judicial custody.

Her fast has a single goal: withdrawal of AFSPA. Fifteen years later, Irom Sharmila’s fast continues. Every year she is released, and she continues her fast in public, is re-arrested and remanded to judicial custody. She is force-fed, through a nasal tube. She lives in solitary confinement, a small bare room, with a lady home guard to keep watch over her at night.

Irom Sharmila is a sensitive poet and human rights activist, who worked as a journalist and social worker. She was 28 years old when she began her fast. She observes, “In Manipur there is no development. There is no industry.

Everything is being imported. Even the rice is imported. Earlier we had rice in plenty, but now we do not grow enough for our needs. There are no jobs, for any job a huge bribe has to be paid. My campaign is for the right kind of development. The politicians are very selfish and corrupt. When I thought of taking this step, it was to change the trend in politics. Politicians should work for the people, but they are not doing so.”xi

Sharmila’s grandmother Tonsija Devi used to inspire Sharmila with stories of the Second Nupilan, in which she had herself participated. Tonsija Devi would recall events of 1939: “The price of paddy was 25 paise for about 30 kilos. All of a sudden the price rose to 3 or 4 rupees. It became impossible for people to buy rice. Rice was sent out of Manipur, while people were starving. Women streamed in from all sides—all the women of Manipur. We spent days outside the Durbar, and finally we won. The Maharaja ordered the price of paddy to be brought down. So we could all eat, and live as before.” xi i

Tonsija Devi was born in 1903 into an ordinary working class family in Shinzamai Bazar, Imphal. When Tonsija Devi died in March 2008 (aged 105 years), she had not met Sharmila since the year 2,000; neither has Sakhi Devi met her daughter, for 15 years now. Both Sakhi Devi and Tonsija Devi played a decisive role in shaping Sharmila’s attitudes and commitments.

On 10 December 2008, Meira Paibis, began an indefinite relay hunger strike, in solidarity with the demand to repeal AFSPA. The relay hunger strike carries on, with a few women sitting everyday on fast inside a makeshift bamboo shelter, near the security wing of J.N. Hospital, in which Sharmila is kept. Every year, people of Manipur celebrate a `Festival of Peace, Justice and Hope’ during the first week of November, commemorating the start of Sharmila’s fast. Songs, plays, discussions, film screenings, multi-faith prayers and solidarity fasts mark the event. Supporters hold solidarity fasts, songs and discussions wherever they are — in different cities of India, and other countries.

In March 2008, Peace Women across the Globe appealed for solidarity action in support of Sharmila’s campaign. Film screenings of Tales from the Margins, a documentary film by Kavita Joshi, were held in several places. Grassroots people’s movements in different parts of India observed Manipur Solidarity Day to express their concern for human rights violations in Manipur. In 2010, a group of activists and intellectuals in Kerala performed a play on Irom Sharmila, which they took to several cities, winding up in Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh. A young actor from Pune, Ojas, took up the play and has performed it over a 100 times, in different parts of the country.

Irom Sharmila represents the voice of the ordinary people of Manipur. Physically isolated and seemingly frail, Sharmila’s spirit remains exceptionally strong. She is an inspiration, a practitioner of Gandhian non-violence, a woman of iron will who challenges the high-handedness of state power.

6.  Women’s Protest against Sexual Violence by Armed Forces

On 11-12 July 2004, Indian security personnel (of the Assam Rifles) brutally raped and murdered Thangjam Manorama, a young woman of Bamon Kampu. On 15th July, Meira Paibis staged a dramatic protest against this rape. Twelve elderly activists disrobed in public, carrying a long white banner bearing the slogan—INDIAN ARMY, RAPE US. Meira Paibis explained that often in the past, women have been raped by armed forces in front of family members. Ima Ngambi said, “They raped her…. It was too much for us to take. I cried a lot a day. It could have been my daughter in Manorama’s place…. I stripped along with other women protesting and shouted, ‘Indian Army, rape me! We are all Manorama’s mothers.’…. The police were upset with me…. I was arrested at midnight and released after three months in jail. Later I was again arrested when I was part of an agitation against fake encounters.”xi i i

The protestors refused to accept the usual patriarchal definition of rape, as dishonour to the woman, her family and community. Instead, they assigned dishonour to the rapists, and the state which protected such crime. Their discourse focused on the violation of one woman as symbolic of the violation of all women. They demanded safety and non-violation for all women. They spoke on behalf of all women, and particularly for the younger generation. They spoke in defence of their daughters, the younger women like Manorama.xi v

The protestors were ordinary, elderly women: housewives, mothers, workers, traders, vendors. Collectively they expressed rage, challenging brutal hyper-masculine power. It was the first time in recorded history that women collectively used their bodies in this manner. It was a spirited challenge and exposure of sexual violence and murder by the official security of forces.

One protestor, Loitam Ibetombi Devi, explained what pushed them to imagine and undertake such a difficult action: “Our humiliation was beyond endurance”, she notes, recounting several instances of atrocities by security forces. The women’s action required great personal courage, for they were transgressing entrenched codes of honour and womanhood, and risked further criticism and social stigma. Ima Gyaneswari felt that it was a do-or-die situation for Manipuri women.

Meira Paibi activists explained that often, in the past, women were raped by armed forces in front of their children and other family members.xv This time they decided to stand up against it. One activist noted, “Our anger made us shed our inhibitions that day. If necessary we will die – commit self-immolation to save our innocent sons and daughters…. Our struggle is to protect the people caught in the crossfire between militants and security forces. We are neither protecting militants nor fighting security forces. Our only concern is the safety of our children. Our fight is to protect human rights.”xvi

In one radical moment, the women exposed the state and its conception of security as patriarchal and hyper-masculine: rather than protect women citizens, it poses a serious threat to their safety and survival. A law that turns a blind eye to rape and murder is unacceptable, and must change. If AFSPA is helping the military to commit heinous crimes, it should be removed.

6.    Impact of Women’s Protests

Public opinion in Manipur, and outside, has responded positively to the women’s protests. By their extraordinary modes of protest, Manipuri women have brought human rights abuse, and the context in which it is taking place with impunity, to world attention. As civil society actors, they have opened up closed spaces, and invited dialogue with all concerned. They have pushed the state on the defensive, by challenging its abuses in public. The media highlights their cause from time to time, no doubt partly because of the dramatic nature of the actions.

Popular support for withdrawal of AFSPA has made state and central governments promise, time and again, to review the feasibility of repealing AFSPA. After the Meira Paibis’ July 2004 protest, the government agreed to a form a high-level commission on AFSPA – and actually did set up the Justice Reddy Commission for this purpose (in 2004). The Committee report clearly states that AFSPA “has become a symbol of oppression, an object of hate and an instrument of discrimination and high-handedness,” and should be withdrawn. However, the government has ignored the recommendations of the committee.

The state did grant another critical, long-standing demand. This is not so well known outside Manipur, but to Manipuris, it is of overwhelming importance. This is the `liberation’ of Kangla — occupied since decades by the 17th Assam Rifles. People have long been demanding removal of the armed forces from Kangla, and its restoration as a public site. This demand was granted on 20th November 2004, when Kangla was opened up to the public for the first time since 1891. Kangla was the site of the royal palace since millennia. Its extensive compounds had many places of worship, open to the public since time immemorial. The British occupied Kangla after defeating Manipur in the Anglo-Manipur War of 1891B. The palace and other buildings were razed to the ground, and the place occupied by British forces. This was a symbol of the utmost humiliation of the Manipuri people. After the British vacated the site, the Indian state occupied it, posting the 17th Assam Rifles inside Kangla. The liberation of Kangla has been high on the list of citizens’ demands over the years. It is associated with their autonomy and basic self-respect.

The liberation is Kangla injected new enthusiasm into civil society, including common people and the activists. People are well aware that the state liberated Kangla as a conciliatory measure, responding to the pressure created by the women’s protests. Thus, the Indian state acceded to a demand which it had refused, for decades, to heed.

During the past decades, the status of women has been deteriorating in Manipur. The sex ratio, livelihoods and health status has been declining, along with increased trafficking, rape, dowry and crimes against women. There is an overall growing atmosphere of violence, and fear. People are demanding support for agriculture and livelihoods like weaving. Strong protests have built up against environmental destruction by big dams like the Tipaimukh dam, with women as leading participants in the anti-dam movements.

Women’s response to the escalating violence is a determined non-violent protest as well as constructive action. One of the determined initiatives by women is the Manipur Gun Survivors Network, founded by human rights activist Binalakshmi Nepram. She says, “Over 20,000 people were killed in the five-decade long armed conflict in Manipur, where more than 30 armed groups operate and 40 security battalions are deployed. About 300 women were made widows every year by the conflict.”

Mumtaz, 36, was widowed when her husband Azad Khan of Thoubal was allegedly killed in a fake encounter by security forces in 2009. Mumtaz survives and brings up her two children by weaving. Edina Devi’s husband Ningthoujam Anand was similarly killed in 2009 and she is struggling to feed her two children by running a small shop. They Manipur Gun Survivors Network is demanding an end to encounter killings, and attention and support for the hundreds of women widowed due to the ongoing conflict.

7. Conclusions – Present Scenario in Manipur

Manipuri women’s stand against AFSPA is a direct challenge to state repression, sexual violence and militaristic mentality, which glorifies practices associated with war and military. In Manipur, use of violence is justified and glorified by the state as well as by several insurgent groups, who have their own armed militias. `Counter-insurgency’ laws like AFSPA have resulted in a multiplication of insurgent underground groups, and their increasing adoption of violent methods.

Women’s actions against violence have drawn national and global attention to the condition of women under armed repression in Manipur. Although these protests could not negotiate a solution, they have created new ways forward. Women have wrested a position of strength, transforming themselves from total victims, into determined survivors.xvi i The protests have helped the people acquire more confidence.

It is to be noted that the majority of the women activists are from ordinary working class backgrounds. As with the earlier Nupilans, it is women who grow their own food, weave, and handle local trade, that are the backbone of the protests collectives in Manipur. Most members are neither highly-educated, nor high income earners. But they are clear thinkers and determined fighters.

As elderly Meira Paibi activist Ima Ngombi says, “I urge women to please continue the fight. And fight strategically…. I have seen a stirring. Things are not going to be as they were. One fine day, with enough women rising, AFSPA will have to go.”xvi i i

GLOSSARY

• Extra-judicial Execution/killing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extrajudicial_killing
• Anglo-Manipur War 1891: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tikendrajit

NOTES

• http://e-pao.net/epSubPageExtractor.asp?src=manipur.Ethnic_Races_Manipur.The_People_of_Manipur , downloaded 30.7.2015
•  Arambam Ongbi Memchoubi, “The Indigenous Meitei Women,” Quarterly Journal 23, Manipuri Women on A New Role, (February 2007): 1-18. Published by Manipur State Kala Akademi, at Imphal.
• Bimola Devi, `The Changing Role of Manipuri Women’ in Quarterly Journal, ibid, 19-31
•  Chonjohn, Khangembam, `The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act: `Procedure Established by Law?’ in
• Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, Article 2 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Special edition on Militarisation and Impunity in Manipur, Vol. 5, No. 6, December 2006, pp 35-37
• Francis, Biju, AHRC, Convenant of Civil and Political Rights, ibid, pp 13-26
• In Reports by Inquiry Panels, Tales of AFSPA Abuse in Manipur’, Indian Express, 22.8.2015 – at: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/in-reports-by-inquiry-panels-tales-of-afspa-abuse-in-manipur/#sthash.plBYlLUs.dpuf
• Mehrotra, Deepti Priya, Burning Bright: Irom Sharmila and the Struggle for Peace in Manipur, Penguin, New
• Delhi, 2009, based on author’s Interviews with Ima Mangol Devi, Ima Taruni and Ima Ramani, Imphal, April 19
• and 24th 2007
• viiiVeda, Gunjan, Tailoring Peace: The Citizens’ Roundtable on North-east and Beyond, North-east Network, Guwahati, 2005, pg 45
• Oinam, Bhagat, `Dynamics of Ethnic Conflict in Manipur: Towards a Proposal for Solution’, in Monirul Hasan, ed, Coming Out of Violence, Regency, New Delhi, 2005, pp 127-140, and Haokip, T.T., `The Kuki -Naga Conflict: Issues and Solutions’, in Hasan, ibid, pp 141-152. See also Arambam, Lokendra, `Peace Process in Manipur:
• Armed Conflict, State Repression and Women’, in Anuradha Dutta and Ratna Bhuyan, eds, Genesis of Conflict and Peace: Understanding Northeast India, Akanksha Publishing House, N Delhi, 2007, pp 343-412
• Mehrotra, ibid, Interview with Ima Taruni
• Mehrotra, ibid, Interview with Irom Sharmila
• Mehrotra, ibid, Interview with Tonsija Devi, in 2007: Tonsija Devi was aged 104 at the time
• Revati Laul, ‘We stripped and shouted, ‘Indian Army, rape me!’ It was the right thing to do’, 23.2.2013, Tehelka, Vol 10, Issue 8
• This discussion of the anti -rape protest is based on Mehrotra, Deepti Priya, ` Restoring Order In Manipur: The Drama Of Contemporary Women’s Protests’, in Preeti Gill, ed, The Peripheral Centre, Zubaan, N Delhi,
• 2010
• Veda, Gunjan, Tailoring Peace: The Citizens’ Roundtable on Manipur and Beyond, North East Network, 2005 , pp 33-34
• Thokchom, Khelena, `She Stoops to Conquer’, The Telegraph, 25.7.2004, cited in Gurumayum, Khelena, Gurumayum, Khelena, The Role of Manipuri Women in Crisis Management during the Extension of Ceasefire between the Government of India and NSCN-IM without Territorial Limits, WISCOMP, New Delhi, 2007, p 40
• Schirch, Lisa, Ritual and Symbol in Peacebuilding, Kumarian Press, Bloomfield, 2005, has an interesting discussion on the use and importance of symbolic and ritual action by peace-builders.
• Laul, ibid

REFERENCES

BOOKS, PAPERS AND CHAPTERS IN BOOKS

1. Brara, N. Vijayalakshmi, A Situational Analysis of Women and Girls in Manipur, New Delhi: National Commission for Women, 2005.
2. Dutta, Anuradha, and Ratna Bhuyan, ed., Genesis of Conflict and Peace— Understanding Northeast India. New Delhi: Akanksha Publishing House and OKDISCD, 2007.
3. Gill, Preeti, ed, The Peripheral Centre: Voices from India’s Northeast. New Delhi: Zubaan.2010
4. Gurumayum, Khelena, The Role of Manipuri Women in Crisis Management during the Extension of Ceasefire between the Government of India and NSCN-IM without Territorial Limits. New Delhi: WISCOMP, 2007.
5. Kabui, Gangmumei, History of Manipur, Vol. 1: Pre-Colonial Period. New Delhi: National Publishing House, 1991.
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7. Mehrotra, Deepti Priya, Burning Bright: Irom Sharmila and the Struggle for Peace in Manipur. New Delhi: Penguin: 2009; 2nd edition updated and revised: 2014
8. Mehrotra, Deepti Priya, `Irom Sharmila’s Protest Fast: “Women’s Wars”, Gandhian Non-Violence and Anti-Militarisation Struggles’, Peace Prints: South Asian Journal of Peacebuilding, Vol. 3, No.1: Spring 2010, WISCOMP
9. Mehrotra, Deepti Priya, `Restoring Order in Manipur: The Drama of Contemporary Women’s Protests’, in Gill, Preeti, ed, The Peripheral Centre: Voices from India’s Northeast, New Delhi: Zubaan, 2010
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12. Shankar, Charu, ‘Timeless in Imphal’, The Dance of Life, Vol. IV, Issue 5, February– March 2007.
13. Sharmila, Irom, Frangrance of Peace, New Delhi: Zubaan, 2010
14. Sharmila, Irom and Vaid, Minnie, Iron Irom: Two Journeys, New Delhi: Rajpal and Sons, 2013
15. Singh, O. Kulabidhu, Sharmila: A Mission for Peace. Imphal: Oinam Ongbi Gulapmachu Devi, 2006.
16. Takhellambum, Bhabananda, Women’s Uprising in Manipur: A Legacy Continued. New Delhi: WISCOMP, 2003
17. Tarapot, Phanjoubam, Bleeding Manipur. New Delhi: Har-Anand, 2004.
18. Veda, Gunjan, Tailoring Peace: The Citizens’ Roundtable on Manipur and Beyond. Guwahati: North East Network, 2005.
19. Yamini Devi, Parvat ke Paar, a collection of short stories, translated from Manipuri to Hindi by Elaibam Vijaylakshmi. Imphal: Rai Praveena Brothers, 2005.

In Memory of Thangjam Manorama

12 Years of fasting-Irom Sharmila