M A I N   N E W S

Indrajit Gupta dead
Parliament adjourned
TNS & agencies

Kolkata, February 20
Veteran Communist leader, parliamentarian and former Union Home Minister Indrajit Gupta died of cancer at 0345 hours at his residence here today. He was 82.

He is survived by his wife Suraiya, a son and three daughters.

Known as “Father of Parliament” Mr Gupta was born in Kolkata on March 18, 1919, to Satish Chandra Gupta, the then Secretary of Council of States, and Priyabala.

President K.R. Narayanan, Vice-President Krishan Kant, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, veteran Communist leader Jyoti Basu and West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee expressed grief at the demise of the ‘humanitarian parliamentarian.’

A barrister by profession, Mr Gupta was educated in Kolkata, Delhi and England. He earned his trip to King’s College in Cambridge after completing his graduation from St. Stephen’s College in Delhi.

A stalwart in democratic and trade union movement in the country, Mr Gupta, who joined the Communist movement in the forties, was president of several trade union organisations. He was General Secretary of the All-India Trade Union Congress for 10 years from 1980. He had been the Vice-President of the World Federation of Trade Unions since 1982.

As the longest surviving Lok Sabha member, Mr Gupta was first elected to the Lower House in 1960 from the Calcutta South-West constituency in a byelection. He was elected to the Lok Sabha 11 times.

He was also the CPI General Secretary and leader of the Communist Group in Parliament. He led the biggest strike in Calcutta Port and became a living legend for his role in the trade union movement in jute industry. He was Home Minister in the governments of Mr H.D. Deve Gowda and Mr I.K. Gujral at the Centre.

Pak SC upholds 1999 coup

Islamabad, February 20
Pakistan’s Supreme Court has upheld the October 1999 coup by Gen Pervez Musharraf and said his removal during his absence by former Premier Nawaz Sharif was an attempt to create dissension among the armed forces which amounted to a criminal conspiracy.

Dismissing petitions seeking review of its May 2000 judgement, an 11-member Bench yesterday, however, observed that prolonged involvement of the Army in civil and political affairs of the country would affect its professionalism and politicise the armed forces.

The Bench, headed by Chief Justice Irshad Hasan Khan, dismissed the petitions after the government counsel told the court that he had been instructed by the government to reaffirm the assurances given by General Musharraf that he would hold elections in the country before October, 2002. PTI