Imphal: Manipur rights activist Irom Sharmila Chanu on Tuesday announced she would be breaking her 16-year fast to contest elections.
Sharmila has been on a hunger strike since 2000 to demand repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in Manipur. She will break her fast on August 9, said reports.
”I will break my fast as the government has failed to give any positive response. I will fight elections to solve the issue,” said Irom Sharmila.
She said she no longer believes that her fast will lead to the repeal of the "draconian" AFSPA but she will continue the fight.
"That is why I will join politics and my fight will continue," said Sharmila. In the past, many political leaders have met Sharmila and tried to cajole her into joining politics but she has rejected all offers. She now plans to run as an independent.
She also informed the court, where she is required to mark attendance every 15 days, that she wants to marry. The civil rights activist is known to have a boyfriend, a British national of Indian origin, who has in the past been in trouble with Sharmila supporters.
Assembly elections in Manipur are scheduled in 2017. Sharmila is forcibly fed through a nasal tube in Imphal's Jawahar Lal Nehru Hospital, a special ward which acts as her prison.
Sharmila has been arrested several times over the past few years. On March 4, 2013, she was put on trial for allegedly trying to commit suicide while undertaking a fast-unto-death at Jantar Mantar on October 4, 2006.
On March 30, 2016, she was acquitted in the case. Sharmila said she never intended to commit suicide, and it was just a protest against AFSPA.
Days before she began her fast in 2000, 10 people, including two children, were shot dead by personnel allegedly from the armed forces.
