With or without Irom Sharmila
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: August 22, 2014 -

After walking out free from the security ward of Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS), where she had been kept in confinement for nearly 14 years, in the evening of August 20 evening; anti-AFSPA crusader Irom Chanu Sharmila made a very valid observation when she said that public movement for repealing Armed Forces Special Powers Act from Manipur seems to be slacking and she wanted to know the intent of the people on her struggle: Whether she should continue or give up?

Its true that plagued with numerous problems and issues, the mind of the people in Manipur have always been swayed away every now and then by one issue or the other, and the demand for repealing Armed Forces Special Powers Act, howsoever dear it may be to the people, is sometimes pushed to the background until some major incidents of atrocities and excesses committed by uniformed personnel erupted to shake them up again.

On the other hand, by keeping the ‘Iron Lady’, who has shown exemplary courage and steadfastness in her stand against the draconian Act, in isolation within a tiny room in the security ward of JNIMS for nearly 14 years, the State administration had also done its best to disconnect the living symbol of resistance against AFSPA from the people who have suffered no less by any degree under the same Act, which gives sweeping power to personnel of Armed Forces to do anything without fear of being prosecuted.

However, with Sharmila acquitted from the charges under Section 309 of Indian Penal Code (attempt to commit suicide) and moving around freely today following an order passed by the Sessions Judge, Manipur East, the equation is likely to be changed.

The overwhelming response of the people, which was almost hysterical to a point, during the visit of Sharmila to the Khwairamband Market located in the heart of capital city Imphal in the afternoon of August 21 has once again shown the yearning of the people to do away with a piece of legislation from the British colonial era that has made them suffered so much in the hands of uniformed personnel for the last many decades all in the name of counter-insurgency.

With this kind of public response, the resolute stand of Sharmila not to touch food and water until the demand for repealing Armed Forces Special Powers Act is achieved must have been strengthened even more.

And this in turn must have given more cause for worry on the part of the State administration, which would surely look out for ways and means to keep Sharmila far away from the people.

However, with the Session Judge, Manipur East throwing away section 309 of IPC out of the window, perhaps, the only recourse that the State administration could think of at the moment is to approach the Manipur High Court for a stay on the order of freeing Sharmila and take her into custody once again, thereby stopping her from becoming a demi-goddess in the eyes of the people, which, of course, is something that Sharmila herself loathe so much.

So, it would be up to the people to decide whether to keep alive the resurgent anti-AFSPA movement or let it die out once again, with or without Sharmila. It’s a choice to be made.