Salutes to the iron lady and her fight

Irom Sharmila represents certain values that are humane. Protect her

She hasn't tasted a drop of water for the last one decade, let alone food. But a ruthless state has been forcefeeding her through her nose, ridiculing her very fight for dignity for her people.

Irom Sharmila's valiant fight against the Indian state has reached ten years this month. Since November 2000, poet-activist Sharmila has been on a fast-unto-death, demanding the repeal of of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958 (AFSPA) which gives the army the licence to kill or arrest anyone on 'suspicious grounds' without warrant and escape legal action.

She has inured to the mysteries and is ready to die for her cause. But the state responds to her protest in the most ludicrous way possible: arrests her on charge of attempting to suicide every year and releases and re-arrests, for attempt of suicide entails only one year imprisonment.

Her unfailing determination to fight for justice for her people lies at the heart of a wider debate over the repeal of this draconian law in Manipur. Introduced in 1958, the AFSPA grants the Indian army special powers throughout North-East India to arrest anyone and enter their property without warrant; shoot and kill anyone on mere ‘suspicion’.

Under the cover of the Act, the army in Manipur does armed forces anywhere in the world are best known for: killing, torturing and raping people under the cover of nationhood.

Two government-appointed commissions - Veerappa Moily Administrative Reforms Committee and Justice Jeevan Reddy Commission - have demanded the repeal of the draconian law that had led to gross violations of human rights. The Reddy Commission had noted that "the Act has become a symbol of oppression, an object of hate and an instrument of discrimination and high-handedness." The UN Committee on Racial Discrimination also urged India to repeal the law.

In fact the failure to provide justice to the victims of human rights violations by the armed forces further fuels insurgency, the alibi for deployment of AFSPA. According to a Human Rights Watch report, armed groups have carried out torture, killings, indiscriminately used bombs and land mines, engaged in forced recruitment, and conducted widespread extortion.

The 37-year old poet's resilience and Gandhian way of non-violent fight is unparallel in our living memory. But the Indian state is adamant, refusing to pay heed to calls from various corners for repealing this anti-human law. Sky won't tumble or sea engulf the whole planet if this draconian Act is repealed for a week or month or so and see it can be revoked once and for all.

It appears even though Sharmila pays with her life, Manmohan Singh and Madam Sonia Gandhi won't wake from their deep slumber. Dear Manmohanji, we respect your scholarly pedigree and foreign degrees; your economic sense is good, but it'd have been little more better if you have a basic sense for human beings too.

Photo: Manipurfreedom.org

Fatwas or cattle fodder?

Fossilized, regressive Islamists and right-wing fanatics are at each other's throat on Vande Mataram

You know something? Jamait-e-Ulema Hind is a bunch of highly educated, progressive scholars who after several years of hair-splitting, back-breaking analysis found the most pressing problem Indian Muslims face: Vande Mataram!

Come on all ye those regressive mullahs; we are tired of your ridiculous fatwas. Let me ask this simple question: Is your faith so shaky singing an anthem will ruin your faith? There are several burning issues you can address before wasting time on trivial issues. Are you telling us that Indian Muslim wakes up every morning and worry about the horror of singing Vande Mataram? He's rather worried about other simple things in life like food, job, education, etc.

Nobody is forcing you; if you don't wanna sing it, you don't need to.

Are these mullahs aware that there once lived one Sayed Alavi Thangal, alias Mamburam Thangal, a few centuries back in the Malabar region of Kerala whose anti-British fatwas infuriated the British authorities to the point of deporting him back to his home country Yemen? In fact, much before Gandhiji's swaraj boycott call, the Thangal's lengthy fatwa had called for the boycott of British goods.

But today these good-for-nothing, gutless fatwas have come to mean ridiculous edicts from equally ridiculous mean guys.

On a different level, it appears to me, these mullahs are hand-in-glove with the Sangh Parivar. They emit such fatwas whenever the Sangh Parivar fellas are in real danger; sagging prospects with a serious dearth of issues.

Both the mullahs and the saffron brigade need some urgent therapy so that this country is saved.

Now, these right wing fanatics can go on beating Muslims with this Vande Mataram stick for some time and remain in the limelight. Now, they can profess for a while to Muslims about the virtues of being a patriot. The proverbial chastity speech of a whore.

Instead of pondering over Vande Mataram's Islamic traits, the mullahs should instead be talking about real un-Islamic practices like Haj subsidy. If you are baffled by this sudden disconnect between Vande Mataram and Haj, let me get an answer whether you have been told to perform Haj on state money. Never. I heard only wealthy people are supposed to perform Haj. It is not meant to be a state-sponsored jaunt.