IMPHAL: Several human rights activists from across the country were o Friday detained by the police here after they went on a day-long hunger strike condemning the government’s decision of not allowing them to meet ‘Iron Lady’ Irom Sharmila, who is forcibly nose-fed at a government hospital here.
After members of the ‘Save Sharmila Solidarity Campaign’ began their protest at the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences, they were taken to the nearby Porampat police station for few hours, officials said. “The government is discriminatory in allowing people to meet her.
When even those convicted of serious crimes are allowed to meet visitors, why are we not allowed to meet her,” asked Sharmila’s associate Babloo Loitongbam.
They had unsuccessfully applied for permission from the state government to meet her. Charged with attempt to commit suicide by fasting for an indefinite period, 39-year-old human rights defender Sharmila has vowed not to eat till the ‘draconian’ Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) is repealed from the north-east. By fasting for the last 11 years, Sharmila’s non-violent resistance has become a nucleus for collective protest against the AFSPA. Supporters of the the anti-AFSPA movement had went on a 4,500 km long ‘Jan Karvan’ from Srinagar on October 16 which culminated at the Imphal valley here on Thursday. (PTI)
