13-year-long hunger striker pins hopes on Modi

Published May 29, 2014
Irom Chanu Sharmila
Irom Chanu Sharmila

NEW DELHI: An Indian activist who has been on hunger strike for over 13 years said on Wednesday she was pinning her hopes of finally leading a normal life on new Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Irom Sharmila, 42, who is force-fed by a drip through her nose, said she wanted to meet Modi in hopes of ending the military’s alleged human rights abuses in her northeastern home state of Manipur.

Escorted by more than a dozen police officers, Sharmila appeared in a court in New Delhi in connection with long-running charges against her of attempting to commit suicide, a crime in India.

Sharmila told a judge that she wanted a “settled life as others do” but would not break her fast until a controversial law that covers large parts of restive northeastern India and Kashmir was repealed.—AFP

Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2014

Opinion

Editorial

A new direction
Updated 18 Mar, 2025

A new direction

While kinetic response may temporarily disable violent actors, it will not address underlying factors providing ideological fuel to insurgencies.
BTK settlement
18 Mar, 2025

BTK settlement

WHEREVER the money goes, controversy follows. The PMLN-led federal government, which recently announced that it will...
Sugar crisis
18 Mar, 2025

Sugar crisis

GREED knows no bounds. But the avarice of those involved in the sugar business — from manufacturers to retailers...
NAP revival
Updated 17 Mar, 2025

NAP revival

This bloody cycle of violence will continue unless action is complemented with social, economic, political efforts in Balochistan and KP.
New reality
17 Mar, 2025

New reality

THE US retreat from global climate finance commitments could not have come at a worse time. Pakistan faces an...
Killer traffic
17 Mar, 2025

Killer traffic

MYSTERIOUS and unstoppable. It is these words that perhaps best describe the recent surge in traffic-related...