Irom Sharmila faces threats from radicals on decision to end fast

Guwahati. August 5: Political activist Irom Sharmila, who recently decided to end her 16-year long fast against the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act or the AFSPA, is facing pressure from radical organizations who have warned her against calling off her fast to contest in elections.

The “Iron Lady of Manipur” caught the world unawares when she said she was going to end her hunger strike on August 9, in order to contest elections. She also told media that she planned to marry.

But her decision has not gone down with some rights activists as well as members of her family.

In what could be called an open threat, the secessionist Alliance for Socialist Unity, Kangleipak reminded her that “some former revolutionary leaders were assassinated” after deviating from the cause and getting elected as people’s representatives.

Two secessionist militant outfits ; Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup and Kangleipak Communist Party ,have also asked Sharmila to continue the fast.

“All those who joined electoral politics did so knowing well that it was a dead-end,” ASUK chairman N Oken and vice-chairman Ksh Lab Meitei said in a statement on Wednesday.

They also said Sharmila should reconsider her decision to marry a “non-local man”. Sharmila is in a relationship with Desmond Coutinho, a Goan-British activist.  “Even though the man is an NRI, he is still an Indian in the eyes of the people of Kangleipak (core of Manipur),” the statement said.

Increasing cases of inter-marriage between “Indians” and people of Kangleipak and incessant influx from India were responsible for the ongoing mass movement for the protection of the indigenous peoples, ASUK said.

The NRI Sharmila wanted to marry could have been planted by the intelligence agencies to weaken the fight against Afspa and “colonial domination”, ASUK posited.

Sharmila started her strike on November 5, 2000, calling for a repeal of the AFSPA,  after she allegedly saw a group of army men kill 10 people at a bus stop near her home. The armed forces (special powers) act  gives security men powers to search, enter property and shoot on sight.

The Justice Reddy Commission had in the year 2005 recommended the repeal of the Armed Forces (Special) Powers Act, 1958, in Manipur.  The Army however, remains adamant saying the AFSPA remains crucial in continuing the battle against insurgents.