Extending Solidarity to Sharmila's 15 years hunger strike against AFSPA
5th November 2015, New Delhi
Solidarity to Sharmila's 15 years hunger strike against AFSPA at Delhi on 5th November 2015
We stand for Peoples’ Democratic Struggle Against Indian Military law &
Extending Solidarity to Sharmila’s 15 years hunger strike against AFSPA
I will never give up my stand without achieving my demand to repeal AFSPA.
Excerpt from the statement of Irom Sharmila,
Jantar Mantar, Delhi, 6 October 2006
No Indian Governments in the last 57 years in India, including the present Narendra Modi government, have heeded to the people’s demand to repeal the oppressive military instrument of the Indian state called the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. Narendra Modi, his predecessors and Indian government officials do not bother even to meet Irom Sharmila, who has been fasting for the last 15 years to repeal this Act, showing the undemocratic/colonial characters of the Indian state.
Come the 5th November 2015; it adds another year to Irom Sharmila’s resistance against the martial law and culture of impunity enjoyed by the Indian armed forces under the power of AFSPA. In the ‘Indian sub-continent’, Indian state indulges in crimes against humanity and Sharmila uses her body as the weapon in the fight against the inhuman and draconian Act and becomes a political prisoner. To recall, the immediate spark of her steadfast hunger strike was the Malom massacre of the 2nd November 2000 by the Indian soldiers in Manipur that killed ten civilians, including women and children.
Solidarity to Sharmila's 15 years hunger strike against AFSPA at Delhi on 5th November 2015
The Armed Forces Special Powers Act is a notorious instrument of State terrorism, humiliations, prolonged detentions, tortures, killings, destructions, traumas, deprivations and disturbances; the logical culmination is unrestraint widespread culture of impunity by the state forces.
This Act serves the agenda of creating a category of suspects and ‘disturbed areas’ to be oppressed at will; to suppress democratic voices against oppressive political regimes, exploitative market forces and destructive projects. The Act is symptomatic of an undeclared war trajectory superimposed on a category of subjected people, whose political aspirations and democratic rights are marginalized in the name of India’s security.
The brutality of the colonial rule that British India had faced in the 1940s is what we are experiencing under a different political jargon -- called ‘disturbed areas’.
Unfortunately, Indian state still does not consider repealing this military Act despite fifteen years of Sharmila’s fasting and 57 years of people’s struggle against this draconian act. State holds on AFSPA dearly, as it acts as a surrogate in militarily engagement with neo-colonial and neo-liberal structure at the same time, the agencies such as the military establishment and the corrupt personnel operating on the ground uphold AFSPA, in the name of counter insurgency, as it serves certain extra-institutional personal interests.
So, we must uphold our collective struggle against the politics of AFSPA as the movement is not only against the instrument of oppression but also the regime in power that suppresses democratic rights. In this context, Sharmila’s fifteen years of steadfast protest is commendable as it contributes to the collective struggle for democratic rights.
Long live Irom Sharmila!
Long live people’s struggle for democratic rights!
Issued by Manipur Students’ Association Delhi (MSAD)
Solidarity to Sharmila's 15 years hunger strike against AFSPA at Delhi on 5th November 2015
* This Press Relese was sent to e-pao.net by Manipur Students’ Association Delhi (MSAD) who can be contacted at Msad(doT)manipur(aT)gmail(doT)com
This Press Release was posted on November 06 2015
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