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It saddened me to think that some people in the army are doing all this when they should be the one who are supposed to protect us, but it's not completely their fault; it's the fault of the Govt. to have given them such arbitrary power...
| by Swathi
Gadepalli
( October 27,
2012, Hyderabad, Sri Lanka Guardian) Sharmila who? I wondered when I had read
her name a few months back on a networking site.
Must be a weight
lifter or some sportsperson, I thought. Then I read the caption below, the
words "fast" caught my
attention. Oh! It must be someone from Hazare's camp fasting for that
anti-corruption bill. Just as that thought came into my mind I decided to click
on the link to know more, (because through the media I had followed the
movement with a patriotic fervor and had felt like I was really a part of the
campaign.) Then her picture emerged in which there was sort of pipe to her
nose, her condition must be serious to warrant such food pipes and stuff I
thought, How many days had she been on the hunger strike I wondered next, I
read the article. It had shocked the hell out of me. Eleven years (twelve now)
of fasting?? Why? How?
When? I didn’t
understand anything else. Just that, eleven years a lady had fasted...Eleven
years...a lady had felt so close to a cause that she decided to dedicate her
time, energy and health to fight for it.
Then I had
re-read the article to find out the cause for which a person can go to such
length. I read something about special powers given to the army to protect
civilians from “militants” was being misused and abused by the army. Fake
encounters and killing of innocents was mentioned. What special powers are they
talking about? I then looked up for these "powers “on wikipedia and I was
stunned. Yes the law and order situation must have been horrible in these
places to put the armed forces there-accepted, yes they need to fight militancy
and keep terrorism at bay-accepted but nothing gives the right for a culprit, a
rapist roaming freely whether he is a civilian or an armyman.
It saddened me
to think that some people in the army are doing all this when they should be the
one who are supposed to protect us, but it's not completely their fault; it's
the fault of the Govt. to have given them such arbitrary power, like a parent
allowing a small kid to play with fire...it will eventually burn the kid’s hands
or it may let the kid set fire to the house.
But what is also
shocking to me is the fact that at a time when the media of the nation has
become a force to reckon with, it is really a sorry thing to see how the media
chooses to highlight some issues while ignoring the others. It is the same
media who made a five day fast into a nationwide movement while ignoring a 12
year fast in A NORTH EASTERN STATE. The good old trips and the glamour quotient
of a news item seem to dictate what is to shown in the name of
"news". SHAME that the media decides what is fit for us to know and
what is not. And sad that most people like me have no idea who she is. Sharmila
who indeed!!
Swathi Gadepalli
is a student from Hyderabad, India. She is a volunteer of Save Sharmila
Solidarity Campaign.
