One of India’s most prominent political activists has ended a 16-year hunger strike by licking honey from her finger. A section of her supporters and family members are not happy over the way Ms Sharmila made a decision to break her fast.
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Sharmila, known as the “Iron lady of Manipur”, first smiled and then sobbed before she ate the honey in front of reporters in India’s northeastern Manipur state, finally free of the nasal tube that the government had used to force-feed her for more than a decade.
Amnesty International India campaigner Abhirr VP called Ms Irom’s hunger strike “a testament to her passion for human rights, and her belief that a draconian law like the AFSPA has no place in any society”.
Authorities had detained Sharmila at a hospital in the Indian state of Manipur on the grounds that her strike counted as attempted suicide, which is illegal by federal law.
She was earlier released on personal bond (for her fast which is against law and she was fed forcibly), but a release order eluded her with a court deferring the next hearing to August 23.
Sharmila started the hunger strike in November 2000 after the Malom massacre in a small village on the outskirts of Imphal, in which 10 people were reportedly killed by a government-controlled paramilitary force, the Assam Rifles.
The end of her hunger strike coincides with the 70th anniversary of the Quit India movement, a symbolic day of remembrance in India’s struggle against British former colonial rule.
Stressing on the point that she was not afraid of the consequences of her actions, Sharmila said, “Let them kill me the way they killed Mahatma Gandhi”.
The act, which covers large parts of the north-east and the restive state of Kashmir, gives Indian forces sweeping powers to search, enter property and shoot on sight, and has been criticised as a cover for human rights abuses.
“I have to change my strategy.” she told the court. So, once a year, the courts would release Sharmila. Her historic decision to end her fast has also left her friends divided.
Though Sharmila has broken her fast, doctors said she would be given solid food immediately.
On being asked about why the people of Manipur respect her as God and not as a human, she said that she wants to live like a human being only.
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Her mother Sakhi has refused to meet her.
