While welcoming the judgment of the Metropolitan Magistrate acquitting Irom Sharmila in 2006 case North-East Forum for International Solidarity (NEFIS) condemns the police for not allowing the student to meet Sharmila at Manipur House. NEFIS said the struggle against the AFSPA law will continue, till it is revoked. NEFIS had earlier organized a solidarity meeting in support of Irom Sharmila and for freedom from Armed Forces Special Powers Act(AFSPA), on March 30, 2016 at Manipur House, where Irom Sharmila has been made to stay. Irom Sharmila has been denied freedom for standing against the draconian AFSPA, for more than 15 years. The solidarity meeting was organized to protest against this Act NEFIS condemns police restraining Sharmila from addressing gathering which has been used to brutally suppress the democratic rights of the people, as well as in support of Irom Sharmila’s release. People and students from different communities and regions of the North-East gathered outside Manipur House to meet Sharmila, but were denied permission by the police. Irom Sharmila, who wanted to address the gathering, was brought to New Delhi for her appearance before the Metropolitan Magistrate, Patiala House Court with an ongoing trial against her before the Court for staging hunger strike protest at Jantar Mantar in 2006. The activist is continuing her 15-year hunger strike but says it is not a fast unto death. She says she will fast till the Armed Forces Special Powers Act or AFSPA is revoked. The law gives soldiers sweeping powers to arrest or interrogate people in “disturbed areas” or states dealing with separatists or insurgents. Declarations of the committee appointed by the Supreme Court in April 2013 that fake encounters happened in Manipur have affirmed facts that we have all known for very long, about the nature of this brutal act. Sharmila began her fast in November 2000, days after 10 people, including two children, were shot dead in Imphal, by Assam Rifles soldiers. Three days later, she was charged with attempt to suicide and arrested.
