IROM LAUNCHES POLITICAL PARTY
Launching a new political party on Tuesday, activist Irom Sharmila said she would contest against Manipur CM Okram Ibobi Singh in the 2017 assembly polls.
Manipur’s iconic activist Irom Sharmila floated a party on Tuesday, opening a political front in her long-running battle against a controversial law blamed for human rights abuses by security personnel.
Sharmila, 44, announced her decision at a crowded press conference in Imphal, more than two months after she broke what is acknowledged as the world’s longest hunger strike — a marathon 16-year fast demanding scrapping of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).
“Our movement is to bring the real meaning of democracy where right to justice is delivered. So we really require (the) people’s support in bringing the change,” she said while announcing her party, Peoples Resurgence and Justice Alliance.
Assembly elections in the state are due early next year.
Sharmila — also known as the ‘Iron Lady of Manipur’ — said the aim of her political struggle will be to bring “non-violence, peace and understanding” to the northeastern state, wreaked by decades of militancy that has left hundreds of civilians and security dead.
She had launched her hunger strike in 2000 after security personnel gunned down 10 civilians on suspicion of militant links.
The AFSPA, first introduced by the British, is currently in force in some of the northeastern states and J&K. The law shields army personnel from prosecution against even rape and murder charges.
Sharmila, who had expressed her desire to become the chief minister, said she will contest the polls from two constituencies including Khangabok, represented in the assembly by chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh.