Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, November 26 2010:
Green member of European Parliament, South East England Keith Taylor has written to Union Minister of Home Affairs and Minister of Defence, Government of India as well as to the Chief Minister of Manipur demanding release of Irom Chanu Sharmila.
Addressing his letters to Union Minister of Home Affairs P Chidambaram, Union Minister of Defence AK Anthony and Chief Minister of Manipur Okram Ibobi Singh, Keith Tailor said, '' I am writing to call for the release of Irom Sharmila Chanu, who has been on hunger strike since November 2000, protesting against the imposition of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA).
She was charged with attempting to commit suicide despite the fact that hunger strike, according to the World Medical Association, is not equivalent to suicide as those who embark on hunger strike generally hope and intend to survive.
Irom Sharmila has never been brought to trial, but has been detained, force fed and re-arrested many times.
I urge the Govt of Manipur to release Sharmila and withdrew the criminal proceedings of attempting to commit suicide.
Irom Sharmila's hunger strike is in protest against the imposition of AFSPA which, according to Amnesty International, provides impunity for perpetrators of serious human rights violations, including extra-judicial executions, enforced disappearances, rape and torture.
The Act also violates human rights law, including right to life, the right to remedy and the rights to be free from arbitrary deprivation of liberty, all of which are enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which India has signed.
I, therefore, urgently call on the Govt to repeal the AFSPA in line with its commitment to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights'' .