Chhattisgarh Assy pays tributes to 7/11 victims

Raipur, July 24 (UNI) The Chhattisgarh Assembly today paid tributes to tribals killed in naxal violence in Bastar and victims of the serial blasts in Mumbai, describing the incidents as ''crimes against humanity.'' As soon as the house assembled for the monsoon session, Speaker Prem Prakash Pandey made obituary references to former BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan, former Madhya Pradesh minister Tumanlal and ex-MLA Mahant Rameshwar Giri who died during the inter-session period.

The speaker condemned the terrorist strike on the western subusban reailway in Mumbai saying it was an ''inhuman act.'' Similarly, the rebel attack on tribals at a relief camp at Errabore in South Bastar was nothing short of a terrorist act, he said.

Chief Minister Raman Singh said terrorits would not succeed in their designs to destablise the nation.

Dr Singh said naxals commit such ghastly killings in their frustration over the success of 'Salwa Judum', the peoples' uprising against the decades-old problem of rebel violence in the region.

Stating that democracy could not be destroyed by bullets, he said the naxal movement died down in Naxalbari, where it had originated, but spread to more 500 blocks across the country.

''It is for the first time that the people have come out into the open against extremism. Salwa Judum is the beginning of the end of the naxal menace,'' he added.

The house observed a brief silence and was then adjourned for ten minutes.

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