On July 15, 2004, 12 mothers or Imas, walked to the Kangla Fort in Imphal, home then to the Assam Rifles, stripped bare and held up banners saying, ‘Indian Army Rape Us’. They were protesting against the rape and killing of 32-year-old Thangjam Manorama on July 11 by Assam Rifles troops who had picked her up from home on charges of being associated with a banned militant outfit, the People’s Liberation Army of Manipur. That image of the protest, by mothers, all Meira Paibis (women torch-bearers of Manipur) and some over 60 years old, was shocking as much as it was powerful in a State which had seen many forms of resistance to the high-handedness of the armed forces in their daily lives. In 2000, Irom Sharmila began her extraordinary hunger strike, that would continue for 16 years, to protest against the massacre at Malom where 10 people died in an alleged fake encounter.
Journalist Teresa Rehman who has reported extensively from the region tells us the stories of these 12 seemingly ordinary women who carried out an extraordinary protest. Ima Ibemhal recalls the day of protest as a day of communion with god: “A message had to be delivered to the world. Manorama’s rape and killing was an assault on the dignity of women in Manipur and should never ever recur.”
Each of the Imas vividly recounts her act of defiance, saying she did it for the women of Manipur. Ima Nganbi, the only one who speaks English, remembers shouting: “We are all Manorama’s mothers. Come and rape us.” Some like Ima Ramani Devi, however, feel that the protest was perhaps futile, as things remain much the same. But Kangla Fort was vacated by the Assam Rifles, and the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) withdrawn from seven Assembly constituencies in the Imphal municipal area.
Manipur was brought under the AFSPA in 1980 after being declared a ‘disturbed area’ due to the Naga insurgency in its hill districts. Last year, the Supreme Court, while hearing petitions demanding an inquiry into 1,528 deaths in counter insurgency operations and related incidents in Manipur, ruled that “accountability is a facet of the rule of law”, and that the army cannot escape investigation into excesses. But despite reports of human rights violations and army excesses, AFSPA continues to be in place in the rest of the state. The Imas still carry a dream in their hearts — that AFSPA will be repealed soon. So does Khumaleima, Manorama’s mother: “Only when it [AFSPA] goes will I be sure that my daughter’s soul will rest in peace.”
