The body of Arafat Rahman Koko is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka today and is expected to be buried in Banani military graveyard in the afternoon.
The last rites of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s younger son will take place amid the party’s crippling blockade and hartal programme.
Syrul Kabir Khan, an official of Khaleda’s press wing, said Koko’s mortal remains were expected to arrive in Dhaka at 11:30am local time and would be taken straight to his mother’s Gulshan office where she has been since January 3.
Koko’s body will be kept at the Gulshan office for three hours for party leaders to pay their respects before being taken to Baitul Mukarram National Mosque for the Namaz-e-Janaza which will be held after Asr prayers.
Members of the diplomatic corps and BNP members have been offering their condolences and signing the condolence book at Khaleda’s Gulshan office.
BNP Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi confirmed that the Janaza would be held at Baitul Mukarram National Mosque instead of at the party office in Nayapaltan, before the body is taken to Banani military graveyard for burial.
“Although some over-enthusiastic party leaders had decided to hold the Janaza in front of the party’s Nayapaltan headquarters, senior leaders intervened and opposed it because Koko was not a political figure,” a senior leader, asking to remain anonymous, said.
Rizvi asked party leaders and activists to take part in Koko’s Janaza prayers.
In a separate press release, Rizvi called on party activists outside the capital to take part in a Gayebana Janaza for Koko that will be held today at 10:30am across the country.
The party has been observing three days of mourning since Monday.
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s youngest son Arafat Rahman Koko died in Malaysia on Saturday from cardiac arrest.
Koko’s first janaza was held on Sunday after Zuhr prayers at Malaysian national mosque Masjid Negara in capital Kuala Lumpur. His body was then kept at the mortuary of the University of Malaya.
Koko’s elder brother, party senior vice-chairman Tarique Rahman, took part in a Gayebana Janaza in East London.
