Irom Chanu Sharmila

  "Menghaobi" Irom Sharmila Chanu (born March 14, 1972), also known as the Iron Lady of Manipur, is a civil rights activist, political activist, journalist and poet from the Indian state of Manipur. Since November 4, 2000, she's been on a political fast demanding the Government of India to withdraw the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, also otherwise known as AFSPA, from Manipur and other areas of India's north east.

Since it began in 2000, Irom Sharmila Chanu's fast is unparalleled in the history of political protest.

On November 1, 2000, in Malom, a town in the Imphal Valley of Manipur, ten people waiting for their buses at a bus station were allegedly gunned down by the Assam Rifles, one of the Indian Paramilitary forces operating in the state. Insurgents had attempted to bomb the paramilitary convoy, and the Assam Rifles claimed that the civilians died in cross-firing. Eyewitness accounts of the local people however contradiced this claim. The incident, which later came to be known as the . The next day's local newspapers published brutal pictures of the dead bodies, including one of a 62-year old woman, Leisangbam Ibetomi, and 18-year old Sinam Chandramani, a 1988 National Child Bravery Award winner.

The lack of government response convinced Irom Sharmila Chanu, then 28, to act. On the evening of November 4, after taking blessings from her mother, she launched her hunger strike against the wider problems of the AFSPA.In due course, she extended the scope of her demand to all regions of India's north east where AFSPA's been imposed.

On 6 November 2000, three days after she launched the strike, she was arrested by the police and charged with an "attempt to commit suicide", which is unlawful under section 309 of the Indian Penal Code, and was later transferred to judicial custody. With her determination not to take food nor water, her health deteriorated tremendously; the police then forcibly had to use nasogastric intubation in order to keep her alive while under arrest. Since then Irom Sharmila has been under a ritual of release and arrest every year since under IPC section 309, a person who "attempt to commit suicide" is punishable "with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year[or with fine, or with both]"

Many people in Manipur and elsewhere attribute the present conflict in Manipur to the state of India's militaristic policies in the state, especially AFSPA. Though this cannot be determined, the outcome and the consequences of the Act has more than proven this belief. In the three decades since AFSPA was enacted in Manipur in 1980, and more than five decades since it was legislated to combat theNaga movement in 1958, violence and insurgency have grown manifold in Manipur. It has only contributed to the rise of more and more insurgent outfits in the region. But more importantly, it has almost destroyed the lives of a generation of Manipuri people by snatching away their freedom and creativity, taking away prosperity and growth of their society. Manipur now lives in shambles, in all aspects.

Sharmila was nominated to the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize by a Guwahati-based women's organisation, the North East Network. Sharmila was nominated for her passionate desire for social reform and her work on the issues of women's empowerment, peace and human rights, using non-violent methods. Today she represents the voice of the thousands of voiceless people who are still braving the misuse of the "draconian law" in a state where the government's policy has been missing the very people it tries to protect.

She was recently awarded the Gwangju prize for Human Rights, 2007 on May 18, 2007. The award was instituted by the Gwangju Asian Human Rights Folk School, which is a South Korean human rights body. Sharmila’s brother, Irom Singhajit received the award on Sharmila’s behalf. On receiving the award Sharmila said that she is “somehow happy. But it is not really my desire to bag award. My struggle is not for the sake of fame or award.”

On 1 March 2010 Science and Rationalists' Association of India and Humanist Association demanded that Irom Sharmila Chanu again be nominated for 2010 Nobel Peace Prize as her hunger strike for the sake of peace will cross the 10 years mark on 4 November 2010.