NCM, AMU, CPI(ML) condemn Varanasi blasts

New Delhi, Mar 8 (UNI) The National Commission for Minorities today strongly condemned the bomb blasts at Varanasi yesterday, which left 16 people dead and over 80 people injured.

Expressing shock and distress at the ''loss of innocent lives and injuries to many more'' in the blasts, which occurred at the Sankat Mochan temple in Varanasi and at the cantonment railway station there, the NCM said,''the targeting of a place of worship is a particularly displeasable act and is violative of the ethos of Indian culture.'' The blasts were also condemned by the Vice Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Naseem Ahmed, who called them a ''senseless act of terrorism''.

''Perpetrators of such crimes are nobody's friends. They should be identified and given exemplary punishment,'' he said.

Condemning the blasts, the CPI(ML) called for ordering a speedy and credible probe to identify the guilty and ensure swift punishment.

In a statement here, Prabhat Kumar, a member of the party's Central Committee, also criticised the Mulayam Singh Government in UP for not taking any preemptive steps to stop the occurrence of such violence.

The Kashmiri Samiti, Delhi, the nodal agency for displaced Kashmiri Pandits, also expressed its concern over the death of innocent people in the terrorist attacks.

The samiti demanded that the government take stern action against the people involved in the attack and take measures to prevent such attacks in future.

UNI AR VD GC1747