Manipur Woman Who Fasts in Protest Rearrested

By Shayne R. Burnham
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

GUWAHATI, India
– An Indian human rights advocate, Irom Sharmila, was released from prison last Saturday only to be rearrested Monday.  She was sent back to prison when she declared that she would continue fasting in protest of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) of 1958.

The AFSPA provides the military the power to kill suspected rebels without prosecution.  The AFSPA applies only to Kashmir and northeast India due to the prevalence of insurgency these areas.   Human rights groups state that the AFSPA allows security forces to kill, torture and rape with impunity.

Sharmila first began protesing against the AFSPA and its abuse in quelling rebellion in the northeast in 2000.  A prominent event during that time was when troops shot ten young men in Manipur.  Her brother, Irom Singhajit Singh, describes how it began, “The killings took place on November 2, 2000. It was a Thursday. Sharmila used to fast on Thursdays since she was a child. That day she was fasting too. She has just continued with her fast.”

Three days later, Sharmila was arrested and charged with trying to take her own life.  She was taken to the security ward of a hospital where she continued to fast in protest of the law. She was force fed a liquid diet through a nasal tube.  She remained imprisoned until her release, last Saturday.

Sharmila was then rearrested upon her declaration that she would continue to fast.  “I will only withdraw the fast when the government withdraws the Armed Forces Special Powers’ Act unconditionally. Not before that,” she stated to the media.

The Indian government claims that the AFSPA is a necessary measure to maintain and secure the northeast.

“There’s tremendous pressure from the army and paramilitary forces not to scrap the AFSPA. The government cannot overlook that pressure. But that alienates the government from the Manipuris all the more,” says Manipur’s leading civil society activist Binalaxmi Nephram.

For more information, please see:

Asian Centre for Human Rights – Arrest of Irom Sharmila Condemned – 8 March 2009

BBC – Manipur Fasting Woman Re-Arrested – 9 March 2009

Reuters – India’s Iron Lady Rearrested a Day After Release – 9 March 2009

Author: Impunity Watch Archive