Correspondent
IMPHAL,March 13
[dropcap]M[/dropcap]anipur’s anti-AFSPA activist Irom Chanu Sharmila was freed from detention this afternoon, a day ahead of her 42nd birthday, setting the stage for her re-arrest routine in the state.
Sharmila, who has been on hunger strike for the last 13 years — and is force-fed — for repealing of the AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act), is arrested, freed and re-arrested on the charge of attempting to commit suicide. Imprisonment for the offence continues to extend year after year.She had been similarly released on completion of jail term in past years, but then again she had to be re-arrested after two-three days for refusal to withdraw her fast and as her condition worsened in the absence of hospital back up.
Mention may be made that Sharmila, who is confined to a Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) hospital security ward during detention, had launched her fast on November 4, 2000, two days after security forces killed 10 people at Malom on the outskirts of Imphal.
“I will continue the strike,” says Sharmila responding to a media question minutes after being freed in Imphal around 5 pm. Manipur Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh had visited her on March 4 and requested to end the strike.
Reacting to the release and re-arrest episodes, L Reagan, General Secretary of the All Manipur Students’ Union, said, “The release and re-arrest move of the government is nothing but giving mental harassment to her(Sharmila). The government should think of bringing a solution to the issue without delay.”
Sharmila, escorted by women folks mostly the Meira Paibi activists, has moved to a thatched house belongs to Sharmila Kanba Lup, a body which supports Sharmila struggle, near the JNIMS, Porompat in Imphal East district. This has been her schedule over the years, while awaiting re-arrest.
