'Media focusses on Anna, fails to notice Sharmila'
Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, August 22 2011:
Civil rights campaigners in Manipur are upset with the mainstream media for blowing up activist Anna Hazare's anti-graft fast that entered its sixth day on Sunday and ignoring the over decade-long hunger strike by Irom Chanu Sharmila against rights violations by the security forces in the region.
"There is a general sense of feeling that we, the people of the northeast, have always been neglected, discriminated, and looked down upon by the rest of India, including the mainstream media.
See how Anna's fast has hogged media headlines and see our very own Irom fasting for nearly 11 years," Singhajit Singh, a civil rights campaigner and elder brother of Sharmila said.
Dubbed as the Iron Lady of Manipur, Sharmila began her fast Nov 2, 2000, after witnessing the killing of 10 people by the army at a bus stop near her home.