Published : Aug 15, 2022 06:00 IST On November 5, 2000, a frail young woman from Manipur quietly sat on a hunger strike at Malom, near the site where three days earlier 10 civilians were shot dead while waiting at a bus stand by Indian paramilitary forces. From a normal, life-loving, gentle young woman, Irom Sharmila became the “Iron Lady …
Ema Gyaneshwari opens her notebook, showing me her record of events, memories and thoughts over the decades of protests against the Armed Forces Act of 1958. “A large part of the state remains under the disturbed areas tag,” says Irom Sharmila, who fasted for 16 years, from November 2000 to August 2016, to demand the repeal of Afspa. “In a …
“This is the first step. I feel happy and hopeful.” This is how Manipur activist and Iron Lady Irom Chanu Sharmila, 49, who fasted for 16 years against the Armed Forces Act, described her feelings after hearing of the Union government’s decision to remove the law in several parts of Assam, Manipur and Nagaland. In an exclusive interview to News18, …
