In September 2000, she applied for an internship with Human Rights Alert (HRA), a non-governmental organisation working in Manipur, documenting human rights violations. She joined the organisation at the age of 36 and assisted Babloo Loitongbam, lawyer and founder of the organisation. It was allegedly committed by the
Assam Rifles. The victims included a 62-year-old woman and 18-year-old Sinam Chandramani, a 1998
National Bravery Award winner. On 5 November, Sharmila sat under a shelter near the site of the killings with a placard, announcing she was fasting until Afspa was repealed. Her primary demand to the Indian government was the repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA). which was unlawful under the
Indian Penal Code (IPC), and transferred to judicial custody.
Nasogastric intubation was forced on her from 21 November in order to keep her alive. By 2004, Sharmila was said to be an "icon of public resistance." sent two representatives to meet her. In September 2011,
Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) (CPI ML) stated its support for her and for repeal of AFSPA. Following that in October 2011, the Manipur Pradesh
All India Trinamool Congress announced their support for Sharmila and called on party chief
Mamata Banerjee to help repeal the AFSPA. Then in November, at the end of the eleventh year of her fast, Sharmila again called on Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh to repeal the law. On 3 November 100 women formed a human chain in
Ambari to show support for Sharmila, while other civil society groups staged a 24-hour fast in a show of solidarity. In 2011 the Save Sharmila Solidarity Campaign (SSSC) was launched to highlight Sharmila's struggle and in December 2011,
Pune University announced a scholarship program for 39 female Manipuri students to take degree courses in honour of Sharmila's 39 years of age. She only met her mother once during the fast, as she believed that seeing her mother's anguish might have broken her resolve. She said "The day AFSPA is repealed I will eat rice from my mother's hand." On 28 March 2016, she was released from judicial custody as charges against her were rejected by a local court in Imphal. Sharmila kept her vow of neither entering her house nor meeting her mother until the government repeals AFSPA and went to continue her fast at Shahid Minar, Imphal on the same day of her release. She was again arrested by the police under the same charge of attempt to commit suicide by means of indefinite fast.
End of the fast On 26 July 2016, Sharmila, who had been on an intermittent hunger strike since 2000, announced that she would end her fast on 9 August 2017 and she would contest the next state elections in Manipur. She said "I will join politics and my fight will continue."
International attention Sharmila was awarded the 2007
Gwangju Prize for Human Rights, which is given to "an outstanding person or group, active in the promotion and advocacy of Peace, Democracy and Human Rights". She shared the award with
Lenin Raghuvanshi of
People's Vigilance Committee on Human Rights, a northeastern Indian human rights organisation. In 2010, she won a lifetime achievement award from the
Asian Human Rights Commission. Later that year, she won the
Rabindranath Tagore Peace Prize of the
Indian Institute of Planning and Management, which came with a cash award of 5,100,000 rupees, and the Sarva Gunah Sampannah "Award for Peace and Harmony" from the Signature Training Centre. In 2013, Amnesty International declared her a
Prisoner of conscience, and said she "is being held solely for a peaceful expression of her beliefs." ==Subsequent work==