Activist Irom Sharmila who waged the world’s longest hunger strike ended her 16-year fast on Tuesday with a drop of honey and said she wants to become Manipur’s chief minister to repeal an army law blamed for rights abuses by security personnel.
With tears flowing down her cheeks, the 44-year-old woman known as the ‘Iron Lady of Manipur’ licked honey off a finger shortly after she was granted bail by a local court, signaling the end of her protest that started in November 2000.
“I got nothing out of fasting for 16 years. I want to contest election and become chief minister because I need power for a big change in society and system,” Sharmila said at the government hospital where she has spent most of the 16 years in judicial custody. Attempted suicide is still an offence in India.
Speaking to reporters without the nasal pipe, through which she was force fed and had become part of her persona, Sharmila said ending her fast did not mean ending the movement against the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (Afspa).
“I want to try a different method of agitation.” Assembly elections in the state are due early next year.
#WATCH: Irom Sharmila ends her fast after 16 years. She was on hunger strike, demanding repealing of AFSPA.https://t.co/ndGmoEuZu8
— ANI (@ANI_news) August 9, 2016
She also had an appeal for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who spoke on Kashmir during the day in an attempt to reach out to the people of the valley where also the Afspa is blamed for rights violation by security forces.
“Rule the country with fatherly affection, not with draconian laws. And stop violence in this age of globalisation and credo of development for all,” said Sharmila.
However, she also faced angry protesters – mostly women –for allegedly diluting her battle against the Afspa. The protesters heckled her and did not allow her to enter the house of a doctor in Imphal. She was later escorted back to the hospital.
“With my blood let them wash their doubts and emotions,” she said after being released on bail.
