'Repeal AFSPA, Save Sharmila' call reverberates
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, August 26 2014: Calls to save Irom Sharmila and repeal AFSPA reverberated at a mass rally cum public meeting held today.

The mass rally cum public meeting was jointly organised by 27 NGOs.

The mass rally taken out under the banner "Torture and inhuman treatment of Irom Sharmila (Repeal AFSPA 1958)" was flagged off from Brahmapur Nahabam Basketball Court.

The rally terminated at Wangkhei Keithel Ashangbi multipurpose hall where a public meeting was held.

In the course of the mass rally, many of the participants denounced the alleged torture meted out to Irom Sharmila by the Government of India and the Government of Manipur for the past 14 years.

They also lambasted the way Sharmila was treated in the most direspectful manner.

Addressing the public meeting, Women Action for Development (WAD) secretary M Sobita condemned the way Sharmila was forcibly arrested by police on August 21 who by then was away from nose feeding for almost 40 hours after she was kept in incarceration for the last 14 years.

People taking out a protest rally in support of Sharmila

For the last 13 years and nine months, the Government of India and Government of Manipur have been violating all the fundamental rights of Sharmila.

She is still kept in captivity under inhuman conditions.

Such attitude of the Government is highly reprehensible, Sobita said.

Advocate Khaidem Mani said that there were two ways of saving Sharmila.

One was repealing AFSPA directly and the second option was detaching disturbed area tag from Manipur which would automatically pave way for revocation of AFSPA.

Sharmila never said she would commit suicide nor did she say she would continue with her agitation till death.

She only said she would not eat food until and unless AFSPA is repealed.

Once AFSPA is repealed, Sharmila would eat and drink like anyone else, Khaidem Mani said.

Noting that revocation of AFSPA is not in the prerogative of the State Government, Mani pointed out that the State Government has the authority whether the State should be declared as disturbed or not in accordance to Section 3 of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act.

AFSPA cannot be imposed in any area which has not been declared disturbed.

As such, once the disturbed area status is removed from Manipur, AFSPA would go away on its own.

If AFSPA is kept away from Manipur and when people appeal to Sharmila to break her fast even as AFSPA is not abolished totally, she would certainly listen to the people's call, Khaidem Mani said.

The Government of Manipur has not done anything to save Sharmila and the State Cabinet has not ever adopted a single resolution to revoke AFSPA from Manipur.

Government's claim that it was working to save Sharmila was just lip service.

Nothing has been done on the ground.

Nose feeding cannot be interpreted as any attempt to save Sharmila's life, Khaidem Mani remarked.

Advocate Shyamcharan asserted that people have all the elements to file a case against the Government for torturing and treating Sharmila in most inhuman manner apart from keeping her in solitary confinement for the last 14 years.

Torture, inhuman treatment and confinement are all against laws, he added.

Kuki Women Union (KWU) president Rose Mangshi Haokip called upon one and all to strive together in order to save Sharmila.

Senior Citizens for Society (SCS) Manipur general secretary Prof L Sadananda remarked that AFSPA is a black law.

Justice Jeevan Reddy Committee and Administrative Reforms Committee constituted by the Government of India itself, human right organisations as well as several UN based bodies have recommended repeatedly for scrapping AFSPA totally with a common observation that the Act is undemocratic and draconian.

But the Government of India has been adamantly refusing to repeal AFSPA, Prof Sadananda decried.

Rongmei Women Union president Panti Golmei observed that Sharmila's struggle is a constant reminder about all the hardships and harassments suffered by the people of Manipur.

Many women were raped by security forces in several villages of the hill districts under the impunity guaranteed by AFSPA and such criminal offences were projected as permissible but Sharmila's struggle has made it clear that rapes are not permissible like any other repressive measures unleashed by the Government of India, Panti said.

Senior journalist Irengbam Arun remarked that AFSPA not only violates human rights but also corrupts people's mental health.

Until and unless the political leadership of India, whether they may be Congress or BJP or any party, change their understanding of the North East and people living in the region, AFSPA would not be repealed, Arun said.

A handful of youngsters too spoke at the meeting and all of them voiced their concern for Sharmila and her life.

They were unequivocal in their support for Sharmila's struggle.

Naharolgi Thoudang Editor Khoirom Loyalakpa and All Manipur Muslim Women Development Organisation president Sitara Begum too spoke at the public meeting.