Demo In Support Of Irom Sharmila at Mumbai on 21 Nov 2009
- 21st November 2009 -
Call for Action
DEMO IN SUPPORT OF IROM SHARMILA
21st November 2009,
4-6 p.m.,
Marine Drive pavement, opp Jazz by the Bay, down Churchgate.
The Armed Forces (Special Protection) Act [AFSPA] can be introduced in any part of India declared by the Union as 'disturbed'; this declaration essentially amounts to declaring a state of emergency but by-passes the Constitutional safeguards. In an area under the AFSPA, any person in the army of paramilitary in the region, even a non-commissioned officer, can:
* Arrest citizens and enter their property without warrant,
* Shoot and kill anyone on mere 'suspicion'.
No legal proceeding against the army's abuse of power can be initiated without the prior permission of the Central government.
The AFSPA has been in operation in Manipur almost continuously since 1980. In this situation death comes easy. So does rape, fake encounters, abduction, arbitrary detention, torture and sexual assault. Destruction and looting of property is common.
Yet, India's landscape little acknowledges the ravages of Manipur and its vast human tragedy.
On 2 November, 2000, Irom Chanu Sharmila, a Manipuri poet, went on a hunger strike after the Indian Army massacred ten civilians in Malom, Manipur.
She has a single-point agenda: Repeal the AFSPA.
She was arrested on 6th November. On 21 November, 2000 a plastic tube was inserted into her nose and liquid nutrient inserted into her body. Every day for ten years she has been force-fed through her nose.
On 2 November, 2009, Sharmila entered the 10th year of her hunger strike demanding the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).
In support, women's organisations in Manipur have been on a relay hunger fast since December 2008. On 15 July 2004 to highlight the rape and killing of Manorama Devi and asking for the repeal of the AFSPA, the Meira Paibis, women activists, stripped in front of the headquarters of the Assam Rifles.
A congregation of 32 civil society organisations of Manipur, leading the civil disobedience movement, called for a "public curfew" on 27 December 2004 for the Act's repeal. There have been innumerable protests, dharnas, petitions, cased filed, marches and acts of great courage across the Northeast and across India against the AFSPA.
Can the Indian government not hear?... Mr. Chidambaram, Dr. Singh, are you even listening?
It is important that we all lend solidarity against the unconscionable, oppressive and unacceptable AFSPA.
We call for its immediate and complete repeal!
"I'll spread the fragrance of peace
From Kanglei, my birthplace
In the ages to come
It will spread all over the world.
Committee for the Release of Binayak Sen
This information is sent to e-pao.net by Hanjabam Shukhdeba at hanjabam(at)gmail(dot)com
This announcement was webcasted on November 18th 2009.
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