TIGblogs TIG | TIGblogs GROUP TIGBLOGS LOGIN SIGNUP
Michelle Cook - My Blog
Michelle Cook - My Blog
Chanu Sharmila: Political Prisoner and Activist in India Re-Arrested !
Related to country: India

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Find Full text at: http://www.worldsikhnews.com/12March2008/Iron-heartedactivistChanuSharmilareleased.htm


Iron-hearted activist Chanu Sharmila released and re-arrested
Jagmohan Singh

India celebrated the International Women’s Day in an unparalleled way. The gritty activist Irom Chanu Sharmila who was released on 7th March was re-arrested on the afternoon of 8th March –International Women’s day, after spending barely 20 hours with her family and friends. She is again in the Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital from where she was released.

Despite her failing health and young age, the never-say-die Sharmila continues to taunt the Indian state for abrogation of the provisions of the draconian anti-people provisions of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in Manipur and other parts of the North-east in India.

Though released intermittently for few days and weeks during her 8 long years in prison, she has continued her struggle while being incarcerated under charges of attempted suicide. As was expected, even though there is no ground for the government to continue with her detention, but as she continues to be on fast, for repeal of the AFSPA Act, 1958 she has been imprisoned again for attempted suicide because the government of India seems to be in no mood to relent.

The Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958, which has been in force in the North east for more than five decades, is a breach of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The sweeping powers under the law, including the power to shoot to kill on mere suspicion and the blanket impunity granted to the armed forces has resulted in heinous human rights violations including rape and extrajudicial murders. According to estimates by human rights bodies thousands of innocent Manipuris have been killed over the years and many are still under illegal detention of the armed forces.

It does not shame India –‘the largest democracy of the world’ that the UN Human Rights Committee, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the UN Committee on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Committee on the Right of the Child have condemned AFSPA and urged India on many occasions to remove it from the statute.

It is sad but not surprising that the mainstream Indian media not omitted news of her arrest and her re-arrest. Much of civil society was silent leaving only the Delhi-based Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) to condemn her re-arrest by the Manipur police as they were unwilling to allow her to address a meeting of the Apunba Manipur Kanba Ima Lup (Mothers Union to Save Manipur) to observe International Women’s Day.

8 March 2008

March 24, 2009 | 11:41 PM Comments  0 comments

Tags:
You must be logged in to add tags.


Michelle Cook's Profile

Michelle Cook's Friends


Latest Posts
Chanu Sharmila:...
Statement on Mauna...
On the Run in India:...
US Covers Up...

Monthly Archive
October 2008
February 2009
March 2009

Change Language


Filter By Type
Travel
Topics

Friends
Akihiko
Ben Griffin
Chika
chuka
clarita zarate
Debo
Esther Agbarakwe
Gavz
Joël Kalpram
Naomi-Alan Robbins
norhan
Novell Zwangendaba
PORTSUCKS
Sahro Ahmed
summer runner
Ulla Rissanen


6700 views
Important Disclaimer