GAUHATI, India – A woman opposed to sweeping powers granted to the
military in India's northeast has spent 10 years on a hunger strike.
Irom Sharmila is alive because Manipur state authorities have been force-feeding her through her nose. She was arrested after she began to refuse food and water on Nov. 4, 2000 to protest the Armed Forces Special Powers Act.
The act allows the military to arrest or kill anyone suspected of being a rebel.
Thursday marks the 10th year of her hunger strike, which she began after soldiers gunned down 10 civilians near a bus stop.
Manipur's insurgent groups demand autonomy or independence for the northeast state of 2 million people that borders Myanmar.
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/ap/20101104/twl-as-india-decade-hunger-strike-d8d2a8b.html