Indian Protester to End Hunger Strike after 16 Years

Local Editor

Indian human rights campaigner Irom Sharmila announced Tuesday she will end her 16-year long hunger strike to focus on contesting upcoming elections in the country’s remote, underdeveloped northeast.

Sharmila, known as the Iron Lady of Manipur for her unwavering and nonviolent protest against rights abuses in the region, said she would break her fast on August 9.

Sharmila has been kept in judicial custody almost since she began fasting in 2000 to back her demand for the withdrawal of special powers wielded by security forces in the insurgency-wracked region.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team