The 44-year-old activist has been campaigning to scrap a law that shields troops from prosecution, but on Tuesday she said her struggle had been lonely and unfruitful. This left her with little choice but to “change my approach as I want to see success”.

“In my 16-year journey, I see no visible change except the routine detention”, Sharmila said with her nose tube on that authorities have used for years to force-feed her. She would eat again on August 9, ending what has been the world’s longest hunger strike, and contest Assembly elections due next year as an independent candidate. Her victory is certain.

Sharmila stopped eating and drinking in the year 2000 after allegedly witnessing the Army kill 10 people at a bus stop near her home in Manipur, which is subject to controversial law that gives sweeping powers to armed forces to search, enter property and shoot on sight. Sharmila will take four to six weeks to adapt to normal food after living on liquid diet for 16 years. She was force-fed a liquid mix of fat and proteins through a pipe through her nose. She will have to start with liquid food, followed by semi solids and much later full meals.

Her sudden decision to end her 16-year-long hunger strike has taken everyone by surprise, including her family members and associates. Her elder brother, Singhajit, who had been with her throughout her struggle, said he never knew she was going to terminate her fast. “I haven’t spoken to her in the last few days due to my bad health. I heard from others about her decision”.

Sharmila’s brother recalled that during earlier years of her fast, he regularly tried to convince her to end it. “But she never listened to me. Finally I gave up and promised that I will be with her throughout her struggle.”

Nobody is sure what prompted her to end the fast. Her associates say her boyfriend may have played a crucial role in ensuring that she breaks the fast. “But it is also her frustration at the government for not listening to the demands of the people. So she is changing her fast from activism to politics. Her goal remains the same: revocation of AFSPA.

Born on March 14, 1972, she is the youngest of nine siblings. She was not a sharp student and gave up her dream of becoming a doctor. She could not clear the class 12 exams.

Her father was a great influence in her life. “He was very strict in handling his children but always fair. But sometime he would give me a lift to the school on his cycle, and he would tell me many stories on way”, Sharmila says.

Sharmila was decorated with a prestigious award in 2007 for guarding human rights. In 2010, she won a lifetime achievement from Asian Human Rights Commission. That year, she won Rabindranath Tagore Peace award of the Indian Institute of Planning and Management.

Sharmila admits that government, whether of Congress or BJP, has not been too responsive to her protest. This was despite the fact that Jeevan Reddy Committee, a five-member panel, which attempted to review AFSPA, recommended it be replaced by a more humane law. One can add to the comments of politician like Omar Abdullah and P. Chidambaram that AFSPA should have been abandoned years ago if political parties had the required courage and wisdom.

The beauty is that despite the failure of law and order and despite the cynicism, it is Sharmila who is showing faith in the political process. Her 16 years of struggle, which began as a naïve school girl who thought she would be home in a week, convinces her the resilience of the politics, her faith in Manipur and people of India. The wonderful sense of surprise is not about breaking the fast but her faith in democratic politics.

There was a second part of her decision, which many people are ambivalent about. Sharmila has decided that she wants to get married. If her decision to contest election is one claim to normalcy, her enthusiasm to be married is another wager on normalcy because it is precisely normalcy that Manipur lacked for 50 years.

The end of Sharmila’s fast may be beginning of a new challenge for the central government. (IPA Service)