“If Sharmila
dies, Parliament is directly responsible,” she thundered at a gathering of
journalists. “If she dies, courts and judiciary are responsible, the military
is responsible… If she dies, the executive, the PM and President are
responsible for doing nothing… If she dies, each one of you journalists is
responsible because you did not do your duty…” these are the statements made by
the Iranian nobel peace prize winner Shirin Ebadi on a trip to India in 2006 in
support of Irom Sharmila Chanu.
Irom Sharmila, a poet, a social activist and a
native of the ‘neglected’ state of Manipur and she is on hunger strike for
almost 11 years now. Yes, eleven years, that is nothing in front of Anna
Hazare’s fast of four days and still majority of Indians do not know about her
and the cause she is fighting for. Irony, it is, that one person is getting so
much media coverage and another person who is fighting for a similar cause is
neglected by the government and most importantly by the media. She is fighting for the people of North East India and wants
the repeal of AFSPA(Armed Forces
Special Powers Act). The growing insurgency in Kashmir and North East India
resulted in the inception of AFSPA. Citizens of these regions thought that now
they would be safe from the militants but they did not know that atrocities by
the men in uniform would follow soon. More than 20,000 people have been killed
so far in Manipur alone, estimate the numbers of whole North East.
Gandhi inspires her, and in this country of
Gandhi, she is being jailed as she expresses her solidarity towards the
Draconian law of AFSPA. She is not doing this for fame, but for the people of
North East who are helpless and weak in front of the ruthless army. She has
been fasting because this is the only weapon left with her and then she is
being charged under ATTEMPT TO SUICIDE and is being jailed for a year and then
police arrest her again after 2-3 days. Isn’t this what Anna Hazare is doing,
and the police is not arresting him under the same charge. Double Standards.
The big Indian media houses boast about their
ethics, where are those ethics when it comes to the coverage of Irom’s
struggle? Do these media houses only want sky high TRPs and not highlight the
news and development regarding to Irom’s hunger strike? Strong questions are
left unanswered about ETHICAL media.
Leaving aside the double standards of the police
and the media, let me talk about the government now. Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh formed a committee in 2004 to look into the matter of AFSPA, the
committee was headed by Justice Jeevan Reddy. The report by the committee has
been submitted to the government but it has not made it public yet but the
report is there with The Hindu and it clearly recommends the repeal of AFSPA as
"the Act, for whatever reason, has
become a symbol of oppression, an object of hate and an instrument of
discrimination and highhandedness".
The report was submitted to the government years back but nothing has been done till now, the people of North East are still frightened by the Army.
The struggle of Irom has inspired many Indians
and they are fighting for her cause in order to get justice. There was a
gathering and candle light march at Delhi in August in support of Irom and soon
there will be a march from Kashmir to Imphal. This march will create awareness
about Irom and her fight for the people of Manipur and the North East. In
October, a nationwide signature campaign is going to take place to express
concern for the cause of Irom Sharmila. A campaign “Save Sharmila” is taking
baby steps and with the help of students across the colleges of India, it is
going to be a massive campaign. Student bodies have been formed to create
awareness about Irom Sharmila at college level which will help in the
mobilisation of the campaign. The members of the campaign are coming up with
the screening of documentaries of Irom Sharmila, plays on her, articles on
various websites and immense participation on social media platforms.
Soon the government will bow to the just demands
of Irom Sharmila Chanu and will repeal the merciless AFSPA and justice would be
done. Though this time time of eleven long years has resulted in massive health
related problems for Irom, was reduced to 35 kilograms and her bones have
become frail according to doctors. She has not met her mother for years, she
says she will meet her only after the act is removed.
