[Reader-list] The breath of dissent

[Monica Narula]

Dear all

I read this in last week's Outlook. I think it needs to be read.

best
M


http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20040419&fname=Manipur&sid=1
MANIPUR
Breath Of Dissent
She has been on a fast unto death for four years. But a draconian 
army keeps her alive on a hospital bed.
SANGHAMITRA CHAKRABORTY

Young men are picked up in the dead of night for questioning. Some 
disappear, those who return have marks of torture on their bodies. 
Rape and confinement are common, fake encounter killings are routine. 
Those who protest run out of steam, mostly. Except for Irom Sharmila, 
who has been on a hunger strike for the past four years.

Over the years, the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, has been 
enforced in parts of Assam, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland, Jammu and 
Kashmir, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh. It has been in force in Manipur 
since 1980. This is shocking, the state's insurgency record 
notwithstanding. The law gives wide-ranging powers and near-complete 
immunity to the security forces: "No prosecution...or other legal 
proceedings, except with the previous sanction of the central 
government" can be brought against them, "in respect of anything done 
or purported to be done in exercise of powers conferred by this Act".

Sharmila wants to change that. Her moment of resolve came on November 
2, 2000, when 10 innocent people, including women and children, were 
shot dead from point blank range by the Assam Rifles. "She vowed to 
challenge the killings and went on a fast-unto-death," says Nonibala, 
an Imphal-based activist of the Human Rights Law Network (HRLN). This 
forced a magisterial enquiry, but the army got a stay on it. Three 
days later, Sharmila was arrested on charges of attempted suicide. 
Since then, she has been arrested three times.

Confined to a bed at Imphal's Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital under 
judicial custody, this 32-year-old writer-activist is fed forcibly 
through her nose. She is weak and some of her vital organs are giving 
up but she refuses to eat. "I love peace, but we must have justice 
first," she says.

Governments have been status quoist on the Act. Says R.K. Bobichand, 
executive director of Human Rights Alert: "We have approached the 
state government, but apart from a committee, there has been no 
action." Activists allege that for the home ministry the issue is 
zero priority. "The human rights situation has deteriorated and 
Sharmila refuses to give up till the Act is withdrawn," says 
Bobichand.

But who is Irom Sharmila? She is the youngest of nine 
children-without any political affiliations or mentors. Brother Irom 
Singhajit remembers: "We were poor, but all of us went to school. 
Sharmila was always a writer, deeply touched by suffering. Since she 
is willing to make the supreme sacrifice for the people of Manipur, 
we must support her."

Signs of grit were evident to members of a people's commission which 
visited Manipur to study the human rights situation in mid-2000. Says 
lawyer Preeti Verma: "We remember this young girl following us on her 
cycle wherever we went listening to victims of torture." She was 
awarded the Best Volunteer of the Year 2000 by the UN. Amnesty 
International declared her a prisoner of conscience. Human Rights 
Alert has got the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission to 
launch a signature campaign for Sharmila and her cause.

The government, in response, has restricted her visitors. A Gujarat 
group managed to smuggle in a camera. In the film, Sharmila looks 
weak but determined. She still writes poetry about freedom, love and 
peace-and says she expects nothing from the government.

Singhajit met her last July. "I have not been able to go back as I 
had promised to go with the news of withdrawal of the Act," he 
regrets. Her mother is braver. "She has not met her daughter all this 
while.She feels meeting her might weaken Sharmila's resolve," says 
Singhajit. Meanwhile, the force-feeding continues.
-- 
Monica Narula [Raqs Media Collective]
Sarai-CSDS
29 Rajpur Road, Delhi 110 054
www.sarai.net