Anna Hazare becomes an icon, Irom Sharmila forgotten

New Delhi, August 29 (CNN-IBN): Anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare's 13-day fast might have attracted thousands and captured the imagination of an entire nation, but in sharp and dismaying contrast is the iconic struggle of Irom Sharmila in Manipur.
She has been on a fast for over a decade, without food and water. Her brother said that the indifference by the government, politicians, civil society, even media and the people is shameful.
For ten years Irom Sharmila Chanu hasn't eaten a morsel of food, nor taken a drop of water. She is fasting in protest, demanding that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act must go to free Manipur from fear.
Today, the Gandhian on a modern day satyagraha is a high security prisoner booked under attempt to suicide. She weighs just 37 kgs and most of her body organs are wasted. Her menstrual cycle has stopped. The Indian state has kept her alive on a cocktail of vitamins and nutrients and she is force fed twice a day through her nose.
When Team Anna already backed by thousands asked Sharmila for her support, the Iron lady expressed her solidarity but asked why could she not get the advantage of exercising her non-violent protest for justice as a democratic citizen of a democratic country. "When Anna started fasting for four days in the month of April, Parliament, intellectual circles, the NGOs and the citizens of India discussed his issue very deeply. So, we thought that we the people from North east are not the citizens of India," her brother said.
The AFSPA gives the Army and the paramilitary forces the power to use force, shoot or arrest anyone on a mere suspicion. Sharmila began her fast after an incident in Malom when ten innocent civilians were gunned down by men of the Assam rifles. The faith of the young woman in a hospital bed still remains unshaken. "Whether Anna supports her or not, it doesn't matter. If he supports her it's very good as a citizen and as a human being. But at another point if he doesn't support her that is also fine with us. Sharmila will continue her fasting until she gets her demand," her brother said.
Sharmila's simple Gandhian fast is an epic protest that remains unparalleled in history. She is only matched by the protest of 12 mothers of Manipur who disrobed themselves to protest the indifference of a disinterested nation when Thangjoram Manorma, was picked up by the Assam Rifles claiming she was part of an underground group. Her body was later found with clear signs of brutal torture and rape.
The women of Manipur have protested bared and dared, but sadly no one is listening.
 
'Anna's crusade a big victory for democracy'

GUWAHATI, August 29 (PTI):
Akhil Gogoi, a key member of Team Anna, today said the government's inclusion of the key demands of social activist Anna Hazare in Jan Lokpal Bill was a "big victory" for democracy. Gogoi, who arrived here after Hazare's 12-day fast ended yesterday, said the just-concluded crusade against corruption was the "most successful, non-violent and democratic movement the nation has witnessed since the freedom movement".
Addressing a meeting jointly organised here by Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti and Assam unit of India Against Corruption (IAC), Gogoi thanked the people of Assam for their support and cooperation in the fight against corruption. "Even when I was with Anna at the Ramlila ground, I was extremely distressed about the flood situation in Dhemaji district. Despite the wide coverage given by media here, both the state and central government failed to tackle the situation satisfactorily," he remarked. The Centre and state governments are aware of all the latest problems and burning issues of Assam but reluctant to address them, Gogoi alleged.
The IAC's core committee discussed the 11-year fast by Irom Sharmila against AFSPA, Assam's flood problems and negative impacts of big dams in Northeast, he pointed out. The core committee has assured that it will soon address the problems of Northeast and urged people to continue with the struggle against big dams and corruption, Gogoi said.
 
Aamir Khan supports Manipur rights activist
 
Imphal, August 29 (IANS): Bollywood actor Aamir Khan has supported Manipur's human rights activist Irom Chanu Sharmila's over a decade-long hunger strike against the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act and violation of human rights by security forces in the northeast, a release said here Monday. "The Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), 1958, should be repealed," the actor told the coordinator of the Imphal-based Just Peace Foundation (JPF), Seram Rojesh, in New Delhi Sunday. "I support Sharmila."
AFSPA, in force in large parts of the northeast, enables security forces to shoot at sight or arrest without a warrant. "The foundation recently sent Rojesh to the national capital to demonstrate solidarity with Anna Hazare after the social activist had invited Sharmila to come to New Delhi and join his fight against corruption," a JPF release said here.
"Rojesh apprised Aamir at Ramlila ground in New Delhi about the condition of Sharmila who has been fasting for over one decade demanding the repeal of the AFSPA and alleged violation of human rights in northeast India by security forces," it said. She completes 11 years of fasting in November. The JPF coordinator told Aamir, who came to Ramlila ground in support of social activist Anna Hazare, that the Manipur government imposed many official formalities to restrict people, including family members, from meeting Sharmila.
Aamir told the JPF that he would try to come to Manipur and visit Sharmila and that he was keen to do something to support rights activist. "I do not think there is any provision in the Indian Constitution that disallows a meeting with people in custody," the release quotes the actor as having said. "It has no place in a democratic society."
Known as the "Iron Lady of Manipur", the 40-year-old rights activist began her fast Nov 2, 2000, after seeing the Army kill 10 people at a bus stop near her home, close to Imphal airport.