:dateline:Iron lady of Manipur Irom Chanu Sharmila today ended her 16 years old fast seeking repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act by tasting honey in Imphal at 4:42 pm. It is notable here that Irom Sharmila had started hunger strike in November 2000 in protest of Human rights abuses being committed by Armed Forces under provisions of AFSPA.
Addressing the media following culmination of her hunger strike, she would contest the assembly elections against Chief Minister of Manipur Okram Ibobi Singh in the upcoming assembly polls. On being asked whether she will join any political party, Irom said that the political parties were approaching her but all she wants is 20 independents.
When questioned if she took the decision to end fast so that she can ‘settle down’, Sharmila says love is personal matter and natural. �”I want to join politics as I’ve been called the Iron lady of Manipur & I want to live upto that name,” she added.
On September 11, 1958, the Indian government had imposed AFSPA on seven North-East states including Manipur. Under this act, special powers were granted to the Armed forces deployed in the states labelled as �disturbed�. The Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) Special Powers Act, 1958 empowered only the Governors of the States and the Administrators of the Union Territories to declare areas in the concerned State or the Union Territory as �disturbed�.
When India presented its second periodic report to the United Nations Human Rights Committee in 1991, members of the UNHRC asked numerous questions about the validity of the AFSPA. They questioned the constitutionality of the AFSPA under Indian law and asked how it could be justified in light of Article 4 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ICCPR. On 23 March 2009, UN Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay asked India to repeal the AFSPA. She termed the law as �dated and colonial-era law that breach contemporary international human rights standards�.
On March 31, 2012, the UN asked India to revoke AFSPA saying it had no place in Indian democracy.� Christof Heyns, UN�s Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions said �During my visit to Kashmir, AFSPA was described to me as �hated� and �draconian�. It clearly violates International Law. A number of UN treaty bodies have pronounced it to be in violation of International Law as well.�
