The Hindu : National : Shirin Ebadi meets Irom Sharmila

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Monday, Nov 27, 2006
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Shirin Ebadi meets Irom Sharmila

Sandeep Joshi

Promises to take up the issue of repeal of AFSPA at different global fora

Photo: Shanker Chakravarty

EXPRESSING SOLIDARITY: Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi holds a poster, demanding repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in Manipur, in New Delhi on Sunday.

NEW DELHI: The campaign for repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) in Manipur got a shot in the arm on Sunday, with Nobel Laureate and human rights activist Shirin Ebadi visiting Irom Chanu Sharmila at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences here.

She promised Ms. Sharmila that she would take up the issue at different global fora, particularly the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Accompanied by civil rights activists and students from Manipur, the Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner reached AIIMS, carrying a poster demanding repeal of the Act. Ms. Ebadi was with Ms. Sharmila for an hour and expressed her solidarity and support to the Manipuri cause.

Later, talking to presspersons, Ms. Ebadi said she would take up the matter with the U.N. High Commissioner on Human Rights and highlight the "atrocities committed on Manipuris by the Army."

She had recorded her conversation with Ms. Sharmila and it would be presented to the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Deeply moved

Ms. Ebadi said she was deeply moved and touched by the non-violent and long struggle of Ms. Sharmila against "repression of Manipuris."

The Army was for people's protection and not to be used against them, she added.

"My meeting with Ms. Sharmila has been a painful experience. She is too weak to talk. She is a resolute lady who had not eaten for the past six years. She is still continuing with her struggle and has now removed the food pipe used to force feed her."

Ms. Sharmila has been at AIIMS since October 6 after she was arrested at Jantar Mantar here where she sat on a fast-unto-death protesting against alleged atrocities by the Army on locals and demanding scrapping of the Act.

Ms. Sharmila, who has pledged not to eat until the Act is repealed, arrived here on October 4 from Manipur where she had been staging an indefinite strike for the past six years.

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