Peace Keeping Force?

Gandhi used to fast whenever a problem of significance needed a shift in the collective conscience of the rulers / public of our beloved nation. He even got us freedom!

In free India, somewhere in Manipur, a bunch of civilians waiting to board a bus were killed for no apparent reasons by an unit of Indian Paramilitary forces in the year 2000.

Most of us would have read about it the next day in news papers / seen it in TV channels and comfortably would have forgotten about it amidst the noise of mundaneness of our daily lives. 

A 28 year old girl in Manipur didn't. She started fasting as a protest measure asking the Govt to repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers (Assam and Manipur) Act that gave unlimited power to paramilitary forces maintaining peace in disturbed areas; Manipur was one such area.

For the next 14 years she has been arrested, force-fed, released only to be arrested again by an Indian Government that does not know how to deal with her.

Image is from http://mynewsgazette.blogspot.in/

Govt. keeps telling the various courts that she has been trying to commit suicide by fasting and she keeps refuting it by telling that she has been protesting in the most peaceful, non-violent way taught to the world by Gandhi!

It is a pity that a nation liberated by the umpteen fasts undertaken by the Great One does not know how to respect the protest of this woman (she becomes fodder for public conscience for a few days whenever going back to / coming out of prisons but just that and nothing more).

Come on, there are so many thousands of people dying due to lack of food in the same country where Irom lives. These folks don't choose to commit suicide but simply don't have means to live!

Could they all be arrested, and force-fed back to health by our Govt. that is focusing its machinery instead against this woman whose Idol is Gandhi?... at least as a show of respect to that great man!

Above all I do not understand the fact that Armed forces are needed to maintain 'Peace' for such a long time in a peaceful country like ours...