Breaking her 16-year-long fast, Manipur’s “Iron Lady” Irom Sharmila on Tuesday said that she wants to be the Chief Minister of Manipur to change the society and that her foremost agenda will be to repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).
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She was released from custody on Tuesday after she promised a court she would end her fast and submitted bail of Rs10,000 ($150).
Sharmila, 43, had not eaten for years as a protest against an immunity law covering Indian military in the country’s conflict zones such as her home state, the northeastern state of Manipur, where a separatist rebellion has raged for almost four decades.
Earlier on Tuesday, a judge granted her bail after she assured him that she planned to resume eating.
Activist Irom Sharmila following her release from a hospital jail in Imphal, India, on August 20, 2014.
“I want to be the Chief Minister of Manipur to take positive steps”, she said.
Sharmila began the hunger strike in November, 2000, after Indian soldiers allegedly killed 10 civilians in a small village on the outskirts of Imphal, the capital of Manipur.
“I need power to remove this act”, said Sharmila, 44.
“Without this draconian law, you can connect with us, you can govern us with fatherly affection, without discrimination”. Shocked by the massacre, she meant to change the status quo by protesting the Armed Forces Special Powers Act.
It is thought that the decision to end her strike was influenced by a British-Indian boyfriend, Desmond Coutinho. She said she also supported self-determination of Kashmir. She was arrested by the Manipur government in 2000 under section 309 of the Indian Penal Code, which prohibits an attempt to commit suicide. It also gives the police wide-ranging search and seizure powers. “Give me sometime. I have to be an embodiment of change and that why I am changing my strategy”. “The law forbids prosecution of soldiers without approval from the central government, which is rarely granted”.
She was termed a “Prisoner of conscience” by Amnesty International and has been a recipient of various prizes.
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Doctors looking after her at the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences Imphal said Sharmial would be kept on a liquid diet for a few days because her body might not be able to adjust to solid food suddenly.
