Salute to Suu Kyi in the land of Sharmila

_ By Nava Thakuria  

The detained Burmese pro-democracy icon Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has newly found a group supporters in Imphal, the capital of Northeast Indian state of Manipur, bordering Burma. The occasion was a ’solidarity fast’ in support of Irom Sharmila Chanu, a Manipuri wonder girl, who had been maintaining a hunger strike against a black law for almost seven years. Hundreds of activists representing a number of civil societies attended the demonstration in front of Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital, Imphal, where the fasting ‘iron lady’ had been kept by the government for nasal feeding.

The thirty-crossed Meitei girl Sharmila started her indefinite fast   on November 2, 2000  demanding the repeal of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 from Manipur. Sharmila began her hunger strike, a non-violent mode of agitation pursued by India’s Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi immediately after the Malom massacre, where the Assam Rifles personnel killed 10 innocent people. The security personnel allegedly often take advantage of the draconian law to hide their crimes (excesses) on duties. The AFSPA, termed as ‘inhuman’ by even India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, is applicable in Northeast and Jammu & Kashmir states of India.

The agitators participated in the five-day fast beginning on September 13 following the appeal of National Alliance of People’s Movements (an umbrella front for nearly 200 organizations fighting for human rights in India) and Asha Pariwar with the Manipur Forward Youth Front. Representatives from National Identity Protection Committee (NIPCO), All Manipur Student Union (AMSU), All India Human Right Association (AIHRA), All Manipur Kanba Ima Lup (AMKIL), Thangmeiband Khunthokhambi Meira Paibi lup (TKMPL), All Manipur Social Reformation and Development Samaj, All Manipur Tammi Chingmi Apunba Nupi Lup, Salei Apunba Nupi Lamjing, Salei Lup Chingamokh, Mahila Shanti Sena with hundreds of school students and other people joined the programme.

Located nearly 2400 km away from the national capital of India, the tiny state is home to 30 ethnic groups. However, the land of jewels (as Manipur literary means) nurtures nearly 25 armed outfits, which have been fighting New Delhi with demands ranging from sovereignty to self-determination. Insurgency related violence is rampant in the state, which is otherwise very much progressive in sports and cultural arena. New Delhi continues insisting that the security personnel, deployed for counter insurgency operations there, need AFSPA to deal with the hostile situation.

Applied in Northeast since 1958, AFSPA empowers the security forces to arrest people without warrant, and use excessive force (including shooting or killing, even if the lives of the members of the security force are not at imminent risk). The act also facilitates impunity because no person can initiate legal action against any member of the armed forces for anything done under the Act, without permission of the central government. Manipur was placed under AFSPA in 1980, since then the state witnessed innumerable killings.

The voice of Sharmila against AFSPA is now heard in many international forums. The Guinness Book of World Records has already recognized Sharmila as the longest surviving fasting individual in the world. According to the Guinness Book, it is the longest protest on a social cause by a single individual anywhere in the world. More recently, Sharmila was awarded with the 2007 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights. Instituted by South Korea’s Th Gwangju Asian Human Rights Folk School in 1980, the award is conferred to someone, who contributes significantly for human rights and social justice. The great Burmese lady Suu Kyi also received the honour few years back.

Dr Sandeep Pandey, the convenor of NAPM, who led the solidarity fast in Imphal salutes the zeal of Sharmila to continue her unique agitation for all these years. An eminent social scientist of India, Dr Pandey also extended heartfelt greetings to Suu Kyi, who has been serving house arrest for the last four years. The Nobel laureate the National League for Democracy   chief Suu Kyi has been identified by the international communities as a symbol of protest against the tyranny of the military junta of Myanmar (Burma).

“Conscious people all over the world en masse stand behind Sharmila and Suu Kyi for their exemplary struggle against violation of human rights and protection of democratic values in their respective countries,” said Dr Pandey. While talking to this writer from Imphal, the Magsaysay awardee informed that a poster with the slogans ‘Free Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’ and ‘Free Burma’ was also put in public views during the solidarity fast. He was critical to New Delhi for maintaining strategic ties with the Burmese junta, who   are directly responsible for elongating the detention of Ms Suu Kyi in her Golden land.