After Sharmila Ends Fast, Doubts Over Fate of Anti-AFSPA Movement

Will the struggle against AFSPA die out now that Irom Sharmila wants to lead a normal life, asks Anuraag Baruah.

(Photo: Lijumol Joseph/ The Quint)

Tuesday, 9 August 2016, is perhaps one of the most ironical and tragic days in the socio-political history of India’s northeast. That day, Irom Sharmila, often called the Iron Lady of Manipur, signed a bail bond at the Imphal East district and sessions court, declaring her intention to break her 16-year-long fast against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).

Later, at a press meet at the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) complex, Sharmila officially broke her fast, by licking honey, and also declared her intention to join politics and laid bare her ambition to become Manipur’s chief minister.

Arena of Politics

Around the same time, in Arunachal Pradesh, former Chief Minister Kalikho Pul was found dead in his official residence which he hadn’t vacated after losing the post. Pul allegedly committed suicide after suffering from intense depression following his ouster as CM after a Supreme Court ruling and a swift game of politics by his adversaries.

Is it not ironic that on the day Sharmila announced her intention to join politics, Pul ended his life trying to escape its fatal clutches? What is ailing the northeast? Why have such conflicting and opposing decisions and opinions surfaced in this otherwise relatively sparsely populated region of India?

Is it because of the diversity in terms of the hundreds of ethnic communities, each with its own set of identities, customs and beliefs? Or is it, as Sharmila said in her speech while breaking her fast, that if politics is dirty, so is society?

Sharmila’s Needs

After declaring her intention to break her protest fast, Sharmila has been pleading that people must try to understand that she is a simple human being and demands the basic human rights to live, eat and love. The greatest irony is perhaps the fact that while she made this plea, the very law (AFSPA) that she was crusading against for the last 16 years is termed draconian for depriving one of the basic human rights. How does the society expect to get rid of AFSPA when it doesn’t understand the needs of a single human being?  

While several civil society organisations and the Meira Paibis of Manipur have declared that they will continue their fight against AFSPA, many others are disillusioned with Sharmila’s decision. Some people representing these organisations, including a number of the Imas, delivered fiery speeches at the Cheirap court premises after Sharmila signed her bail bond, saying that she had been misled and this was a nefarious attempt by the Indian government to weaken the anti-AFSPA movement.

Cases of Extra-judicial Killings

At the Cheirap court complex, not very far from the court where Sharmila made her appearance, the Extra Judicial Execution Victim Families’ Association Manipur (EEFAM) had set up a temporary office in a nearby building. It was on the EEFAM’s 2012 petition that the Supreme Court on 8 July issued a landmark judgement preventing the army and the Manipur police from using excessive force or resorting to extra-judicial killings by applying provisions of the AFSPA. The Supreme Court had earlier ordered a documentation of the 1,528 cases of extra-judicial killings when AFSPA was in force in Manipur.

While EEFAM office bearers reiterated that the breaking of the fast by Sharmila won’t have any direct impact on the documentation process, they didn’t deny the crucial coincidence of her action at a time when they are at a critical juncture to complete the project. Interestingly, just one day before Sharmila was produced in court, former policeman Herojit Thounaojam was produced in the Cheirap court in connection with an extra-judicial killing case.

Manipuri human rights activists shout slogans against Irom Sharmila’s decision to end her fast in Imphal, August 8, 2016. (Photo: PTI)

What Lies in the Future?

• As Irom Sharmila ends her 16-year long fast against AFSPA, many civil society groups feel disillusioned with the Iron Lady’s decision.
  
• Some civil society organisations believe that Sharmila has made a mistake and has been misled by the Indian government.
  
• Ironically, Sharmila ended her fast at a time when the Supreme Court has ordered a probe into 1528 cases of extrajudicial killings in Manipur.
  
• It remains to be seen what impact Irom’s move will have on cases like that of the head constable Herojit Thounaojam, who has confessed to have killed hundreds of insurgents in fake encounters.
  

Will the Struggle Continue?

This was another rare moment in Manipur’s politico-legal history when a state government official admitted, for the first time in open court, that the army had committed extra-judicial killings under the guise of AFSPA. Herojit has admitted to have taken part in over 100 instances in which he executed suspected insurgents on the instructions of superior officers.

The Supreme Court’s order opened the floodgates for the exposure of AFSPA-related crimes in Manipur, especially the chilling details that Herojit provided. But the uppermost question in the minds of people is whether the “dirty society” will redeem itself and continue with the struggle till the very end or if it will continue to lament and criticise Sharmila’s decision to seek normalcy and venture into politics.

(The writer is a Guwahati-based freelance journalist.)

Also read:
Without Sound or Fury: Irom Sharmila’s Unique Brand of Heroism
How Irom Sharmila’s Nasal-Gastric Tube Feeding Affects the Body