It is now almost five months since Irom Sharmila returned to Imphal on 5th March 2007, to continue her hunger fast against the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). The situation continues to be grim - both for Sharmila as well for all those suffering under the prolonged implication of AFSPA.

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For those of you reading about Sharmila's epic struggle for the first time – on 4th November 2000, 28 year old Irom Sharmila Chanu started her hunger fast seeking repeal of the draconian AFSPA. This was her response to one among countless incidents of arbitrary killing by the Armed Forces in the north east when on 2nd November 2000, 10 innocent civilians were killed at Malom near Imphal, Manipur.

Sharmila has since been incarcerated at J.N. Hospital Imphal. Over the years she has been repeatedly arrested and detained under Section 309 IPC (attempt to commit suicide). In October 2006, for the first time Sharmila left Manipur and continued her protest fast at Jantar Mantar, and then at AIIMS and RML hospitals in New Delhi where she was kept under constant police vigil.

Sentenced to solitary confinement?

Now in her 7th year of the fast, Sharmila's health is deteriorating. Far from responding to her demand of Repeal of AFSPA, the state is doing everything it can to isolate her and her peaceful struggle.

At the hospital, Sharmila is not allowed visitors on a regular basis. This is in complete violation of the law, which permits anyone in custody, be they an undertrial prisoner or a convict in a high security prison regular visits by his or her family members, friends, supporters and/or lawyers. And yet, Sharmila does not even this basic freedom, despite the fact that there is no court order commanding her isolation. Her family, friends and supporters are put through an arduous and cumbersome process to meet her.

The 'Special' process takes to meet Sharmila can take up to 20 days and involves an application to the Joint Secretary Home Department, Government of Manipur; the DGP, Prison, Central Jail, Manipur; the Additional Superintendent, Sajiwa Jail, Manipur and the SI, Sajiwa Jail – who if the application gets all the due clearances, then 'accompanies' the visitor to meet Sharmila!

What are we to surmise except that the Government is attempting to isolate her from all contact with the outside world in the hope of weakening her struggle?

Matter of honour.

It is unlikely that the Government of India will acknowledge or respect, let alone honour Sharmila for her determined struggle for justice and peace. Satyagraha, after all, has been disregarded repeatedly in these times.

On 18th May 2007, Sharmila was awarded the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights in Seoul, Korea. Her brother Singhjit received the award on her behalf and returned to Manipur only to be told that the certificate would not be shown to Sharmila. He had to wait till 30 June to get 'permission' to visit Sharmila and give her an update of the events surrounding the award.

The Gwanju Prize includes a cash award of $25,000 (approx. Rs. 12 lakhs). Sharmila and her family have decided that this money will go towards assisting the victims of the human rights violations in Manipur. The Ministry of Home Affairs (FCRA department) claims it has 'lost' the FC-5 application required to facilitate transfer of the award amount. What will it take for the Government to expedite and release it without any further game playing?

AFSPA – No response to the demand for repeal.

At both, the Central and State level, the government is simply refusing to address the peoples' demand for repeal of AFSPA – despite the voices against it being raised against it from Kashmir to Kerala to Delhi to Manipur and Nagaland, for over two decades now. In addition of course, have been the recommendations for Repeal of the Act by the Justice Jeevan Reddy Committee set up by the government as well as the Administrative Reforms Commission headed by Mr. Veerappa Moily.

Meanwhile in the shadow of this draconian Act, and the impunity it offers the armed forces, everyday the people of Manipur are disappearing, being killed and tortured. Mr. Nongmaithem Tomba alias Chinung (37 years), Miss. Soniya alias Najama Latif (15 years), Mr. Moirangthem Gandhi Singh (24 years) everyday AFSPA continues to claim new victims.

Maibam Sharat was second in a line of six friends, walking past a security post with his hands up in the air as ordered by Indian troops, when he says a soldier stepped out of an armoured car and opened fire.

He doesn’t know how long the shooting lasted but when it stopped he found his friend Ranbir, who was walking in front of him, bleeding from the stomach.

The troops, there to fight separatist militants in India’s remote north-eastern state of Manipur, moved him to their camp instead of getting medical help.

When they gave in to pressure from locals and took him to hospital, it was four hours too late - the farmer had taken seven bullets and lost too much blood to make it.

“Maybe they were just venting their frustration and anger after their colleagues close by had come under attack from militants earlier in the evening,” said Sharat, a driver from the hamlet of Nongpok Semai.

Human rights groups and political parties say Ranbir’s killing was the latest in a long list of abuses by the military in insurgency-torn Manipur, abuses committed under the protection of a draconian federal anti-terror law.

That law, the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act or AFSPA, gives soldiers virtual immunity from prosecution, and has taken centre stage as the state of 2.6 million people begins voting this week in a three-stage poll to elect a new legislature.

Most parties seem to agree that the law, which only applies to parts of India’s northeast and to Kashmir in the northwest, should either be repealed or drastically changed.

Protectors or predators? “If we come to power, we will ensure AFSPA is repealed in the very first session of the new legislature,” said Sovakiran Singh, legislator from the Heirok constituency to which Nongpok Sekmai belongs.

In theory New Delhi could overrule the state government and re-impose the law. But Singh hopes it will respond to the pressure from Manipur, where 20,000 people have died in a separatist rebellion since the 1960s.

AFSPA gives troops sweeping powers to search, arrest and kill suspected militants even when they face no imminent threat. Troops can only be prosecuted with central government permission, - and that rarely comes.

The 1958 law was introduced to combat armed separatist militancy in northeast India, and the army says it offers them vital protection from politically motivated charges.

Rights groups say the powers it grants have fostered a climate where security forces commit rights abuses with impunity, including torture, rape and murder. That, they say, has only fuelled more anger and created more insurgents.

“AFSPA is the product of the gross paranoia of the state,” said Pradip Phanjoubam, editor of the Imphal Free Press daily.

A top official of the Border Security Force, whose men were involved in the Nongpok Sekmai shooting, said the soldiers were retaliating against fire from militants.

But hardly anyone in the hamlet believes him.

Manipur is one of India’s most troubled regions, 2,400 km from New Delhi but far from the nation’s consciousness. Soldiers are everywhere.

The state has gone up in flames several times in the last five years when soldiers were accused of killing innocents and people took to the streets in anger.

Despite the protests, extra-judicial killings saw a “slight increase” last year, with 18 documented cases, says Babloo Loitongbam, director of Manipur’s Human Rights Alert.

Phanjoubam and Loitongbam say New Delhi should be pushing for a political not a military solution to the insurgency in Manipur, to bring development to one of India’s most backward states.

But whether political parties here will be able to create genuine pressure for change remains to be seen.

India’s ruling Congress party, which has also been in power in Manipur since 2002, has dilly-dallied on AFSPA.

Party chief Sonia Gandhi told Manipuris this week that New Delhi was “seriously and genuinely” looking into the report of an expert panel which is said to have recommended changes to the law 18 months ago. But many Manipuris remain sceptical of change. reuters