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Irom Sharmila

Of outrageous fortune

The AFSPA (1958) that happens to be one of the most draconian instruments of security and control, first applied to Assam and Manipur and later amended in 1972 to extend to Tripura, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland, vests unaccountable and extraordinary powers with the armed forces. The public consciousness against the AFPSA was raised when a group of elderly and middle-aged women from different organisations of the Meira Paibi the largest civilian movement fighting state atrocities and human rights violations in Manipur, besides drug abuse and crimes against women - led a protest march against the rape of Thangjam Manorama by soldiers of Assam Rifles. The fast unto death begun by Irom Chanu Sharmila on 2 November 2000, in protest against the Act, that continued well into August 2016, stirred public conscience

Why AFSPA had to go

The withdrawal of AFSPA from the North-east was necessary as the region seeks a legal and democratic framework to offer India connectivity to the east, says Rakhee Bhattacharya