The 12 years crusade of Irom Sharmila : Understanding AFSPA
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: November 07, 2012 -

Paintings by Neogene ( a new generation of contemporary artists from Manipur) on the "Spirit of Sharmila" :: Paintings Picture courtesy of Just Peace Foundation

Identifying an issue with a single individual can have dangerous manifestations.

It can either propel the individual in question to a pedestal from where there is no room for manoeuvring or reduce him or her to a rubber stamp position.

Yet at the same time history stands testimony to the fact that there have been individuals without whom issues would not have grabbed the attention that it did.

It will certainly be difficult to understand Apartheid without Nelson Mandela, the freedom movement of India without Mahatma Gandhi and the pro-democracy movement in Myanmar without Aung San Suu Kyi.

Or the plight of Tibet and the Tibetans without the Dalai Lama. Irom Chanu Sharmila straddles the issues that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act has spawned ever since she undertook her fast against this draconian Act way back on November 5, 2000 and today she has become the face of the movement against the continued imposition of this Act, which many have dubbed as the Black Law of India.

Twelve years of fast and not even a hint of acknowledgement from Delhi, save the formation of the Justice Jeevan Reddy Commission, but Sharmila has conveyed her stand.

This advertently raises the question of whether Sharmila should continue with her fast or start eating and drinking and take her crusade to a different plane.

Take note, giving up her fast should not be interpreted as giving up her mission. The fast is a means to an end. Delhi has not yet budged from its stand and AFSPA continues to be a living reality, but this again should not mean that the 12 years fast of Sharmila has not yielded fruits.

On the contrary a whole set of generation, who were otherwise indifferent to this Act, have been sensitised. To a large extent her fast has helped to draw a global audience to a colonial Act inherited by India from the British.

The crusade of Sharmila needs to be seen at different levels.

At one level she is a lone crusader, fasting alone for the last 12 years, under custody and confined within the security ward of Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences.

Yet at another level she has managed to stir the consciousness of quite a large number of people, across the country and the world.

If the death of Th Manorama was the immediate spark that ignited the massive 2004 anti-AFSPA movement and the nude protest in front of the Assam Rifles at Kangla, then it was the spirit of Sharmila that goaded and took the agitation to a level of intensity never witnessed before in Manipur or even in other parts of the country.

To really appreciate and understand Sharmila's crusade, it is important to understand AFSPA beyond the ambit of law and order and human rights violations, though these are important points no doubt.

As an Act, AFSPA is meant to be enforced to meet extraordinary situations and by its very definition, extraordinary situations should be understood within a time frame.

That Delhi has deemed it necessary to carry on with this Act for more than 30 years in Manipur negates the understanding of extraordinary situation.

It has to be seen and understood within the polity of where Manipur stands in the overall political entity called India.

Law and order situation can only be an alibi, for in the last 30 years since its enforcement, militancy has only increased. It is this reality which must be kept in mind while approaching the issues which AFSPA spawns.

Sharmila is a lone crusader but in the process she has also managed to take a generation of people along with her.