Who Is Irom Sharmila, The Iron Lady Of Manipur- World's longest hunger strike ends with her!

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Who Is Irom Sharmila, The Iron Lady Of
ManipurWorld's longest hunger strike ends with
her!
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• Manipurs Iron Lady Irom Chanu Sharmila, who
  has been on a hunger strike for the past 16 years
  demanding repeal of the Armed Forces Special
  Powers Act (AFSPA), on Tuesday announced her
  decision to end the fast on August 9 and contest
  state Assembly elections.

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Who is Irom Sharmila?

• Irom Chanu Sharmila, popularly called as Iron
  Lady of Manipur, is a civil rights and political
  activist. She has been on hunger strike since
  2000 against the misuse of AFSPA by the military
  forces. 44-year-old is the youngest of nine
  siblings and gave up her dreams of becoming a
  doctor and decided to fight against the human
  rights violation.

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• All this while, she has been fighting against
  Armed Forces Special Power Act, which was passed
  by Parliament in 1958 giving special powers to
  the Indian Armed Forces in seven sister states in
  the North east which they considered as
  disturbed areas. According to this Act, the
  armed forces have the power to search anyones
  property and arrest people without any warrant.

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Irom Sharmila On Years-Long Hunger Strike?

• In November 2000, the Assam Rifles military
  forces shot and killed 10 innocent civilians at a
  bus stop in a small town called Malom. Among the
  dead ones, there was was a 1988 National Child
  Bravery Award winner, and this incident known as
  the Malom massacre triggered Irom Sharmila to go
  on a hunger strike against AFSPA.

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Iroms demand?

• Her demand is that the Indian government repeal
  the AFSPA that gave the army extra powers in
  Manipur. She was also arrested and later charged
  her for attempting suicide. She was force fed
  through a nasal tube when her health
  deteriorated. In 2006, she along with other
  activists conducted a hunger strike at Jantar
  Mantar in Delhi, but was again arrested.

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• Her hunger strike got international attention and
  members of the European parliament wrote to the
  Indian government seeking modification of the Act.

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