New Delhi: Also known as ‘Iron Lady’ for her activism against Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in the northeast, Irom Sharmila to make a come back for Kashmiri women after leaving 16 years of activism. According to her, she wants to work for Kashmiri women because women are the worst sufferers in a protracted conflict.
Sharmila is the civil rights activist, who went without food and water for over 500 weeks and sat for world’s longest hunger strike for 16 years, during which she was repeatedly taken under judicial custody as well as was hospitalised.
She will be travelling along with her husband Desmond Coutinho to know the challenges of common citizen across the country, she told TOI on phone. “There is a wrong projection that everyone in Kashmir is a Pakistani. I feel these are our own people and I must do something for them,” she said as TOI report.
“I have seen injustices and atrocities committed against women in Manipur and I feel a certain similarity between Manipur and Kashmir,” said the Manipur activist. “I am not against Army or India. I believe in Indian democracy and institutions but I do feel that we need to strengthen our nation by upholding human rights,” she said.