Irom Sharmila, who ended her 16-year-long fast on Tuesday, looked at the morsel of the food and broke down.
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Irom Sharmila, dubbed the “Iron Lady of Manipur” for her protest against alleged rights abuses by security forces in the north-east Indian state, wept as she removed the tubes that were used to force-feed her from her nose and consumed a vial of honey.
The 2005 Nobel Prize nominee started her strike in 2000, after 10 civilians allegedly were killed by Indian soldiers in Manipur.
The Manipuri activist got bail from a court in Imphal earlier on Tuesday after she promised the magistrate to break her 16-year-old fast.
She began hunger strike in Nov 2000, demanding repeal of AFSPA.
While announcing that she would join politics to fulfil her goal of repealing AFSPA from the trouble-torn state, Sharmila said that she will contest the Assembly polls in 2017 against Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh, and expressed her wish to become the chief minister.
Despite calls from judicial authorities and human rights groups, the federal government has kept in force the anti-terror law in parts of northeast India and mainly-Muslim Kashmir to contain insurgencies.
“I want to be the Chief Minister of Manipur to take positive steps”, she said. An Indian court has granted bail to the activist who has been force-fed for almost 16 years, after she assured the judge that she planned to end her fast.
“Without this draconian law you can connect with us, you can govern us with fatherly affection, without discrimination”. It also gives the police wide-ranging search and seizure powers.
“I have been fasting for the last 16 years”.
Irom, nicknamed “Iron Lady of Manipur” had been held in judicial custody at the court in the Manipur capital Imphal on charges of attempting suicide, which is considered a criminal offence in India.
“From today onwards I have ended my fast”, she told reporters.
The law says troops have the right to shoot to kill suspected rebels without fear of possible prosecution and to arrest suspected fighters without a warrant. Such prosecutions are rare.
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Sharmila’s decision to end her fast surprised many people close to her, The Los Angeles Times reported last week.
