Irom Sharmila, a Manipuri woman fasting in Delhi has brought focus on to the heniousness and the implications of this Act that has allowed soliders perpetrate excesses under the guise of protection of  national interests.

Thirty-four-year-old Irom Sharmila has become an iconic figure for the people of Manipur since launching her hunger strike in late 2000 after soldiers shot 10 young men at a bus stop in a small town in Manipur.

Protesting against the violence perpetrated by the Armed Forces – through the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, which gives soldiers sweeping powers to kill suspected rebels, with virtual immunity from prosecution – she has been protesting through hunger strikes since 2000. Current protests are being covered by the media and reported on the internet.

Shortly after beginning her fast, Sharmila was arrested and charged with attempted suicide. Since then authorities have been force-feeding her through a nasal tube in the government-run hospital in Manipur's capital Imphal.

The maximum term for her offence is one year and police have been in the habit of releasing her every year, only to re-arrest her the following day.

This time, she managed to sneak out of Manipur, and to Delhi, where her protests have brought the oppressiveness of this act to the national media. And that itself has been part of the problem – the almost complete lack of media attention to the problems of the North Eastern States.

Soon after arriving, Sharmila made for Rajghat, the memorial to India's independence hero Mahatma Gandhi who made fasting a potent political weapon against British colonial rule. As Sharmila continues her protests, the government must also ask of itself what kinds of protests it encourages and which ones it ignores (that of guns and violence or peaceful ones that demand conversation)?

Soldiers have often used this act to perpetrate inhuman behavior against those they are supposed to protect. One case that got some attention but little justice was the case of Manorama Thanngjam who was allegedly raped by soldiers of the Assam Rifles on July 10, 2004. Witnesses say Manorama was picked up by soldiers of the paramilitary Assam Rifles from her home on alleged charges of links with separatist rebels. Hours later, her dead body was reportedly found four kilometers away from her home in the state capital Imphal, with multiple bullet wounds, besides torture signs.

While, protests continued , justice was not served.

Now, Irom Sharmila has brought the issue back to focus. Hundreds have joined her in the nation’s capital. While government agencies have moved her from Jantar Mantar to AIIMS, people across the country know her story – and those of thousands of Manipuris – who are at the receiving end of military violence with no possibility of justice.

Interestingly, the government has made no comment on the issue. The Communist Party – a collaborator of the current government – is making the right noises, demanding that that Act be repealed. That, however, may not be enough, and it is necessary for democratic action, from across the nation in solidarity with our friends in Manipur, acknowledging their rights as co-citizens, demanding that an act that we would abhor in our own towns should not be used to continue to perpetrate such violence.

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