Not one to weep in public, the widow of slain army strongman and sometime president Ziaur Rahman has been recorded shedding tears only thrice before.
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia was publicly seen crying after the assassination of her husband in 1981, after her release from imprisonment by the military-backed caretaker government in 2008, and after her eviction from her residence of thirty years in 2010.
But the premature death of her younger son, Arafat Rahman Koko, of natural causes in Malaysia, has occasioned the fourth episode of publicly seen tears in the public life of a woman who has earned a reputation for being uncompromising and unemotional among peers and opponents.
Although outsiders were barred from capturing scenes of Khaleda’s grief, pictures taken by her personal photographer have been widely reproduced in mainstream and social media.
Khaleda burst into tears on seeing Koko’s mortal remains after they were flown back to Dhaka, witnesses said.
The grieving mother last saw her son a year and a half ago in Thailand.
Arafat Rahman Koko, the younger son of Khaleda and BNP founder Ziaur Rahman, died of cardiac arrest in Malaysia on Saturday. Unlike his elder brother Tarique, Koko has remained largely aloof from politics.
Since news of Koko’s death reached Khaleda, many including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, have tried and failed to meet her.
Since Saturday, Khaleda has neither spoken to her senior party colleagues nor appeared before the media.
Koko returns
The flight bearing Koko’s body touched down at Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport around 11:45am.
Koko’s wife and two daughters accompanied the body to Bangladesh.
The coffin was taken to Khaleda’s Gulshan office amid throngs of party leaders and activists that witnesses said numbered in the thousands.
Since Saturday, Koko’s sister-in-laws have kept Khaleda company on the first floor chamber of her office in Gulshan where she has been staying since January 3. The coffin was taken to ground floor of the two-storey building.
After the body was taken to the office, Koko’s wife Sharmila Rahman Sithi and daughters—Jafia Rahman and Jahia Rahman were taken to the first floor where Khaleda was waiting for the body.
One or two minutes later, Khaleda along with two sisters-in-law—Nasrin Iskandar and Kanij Fatema—came to the ground floor where Koko’s body had been placed.
Wearing an off-white coloured sari, Khaleda burst into tears upon entering the room. Official staff and relatives also burst into tears.
Khaleda then touched her dead son’s face and was seen wailing while her adviser, Mosaddek Ali Falu, was seen wailing on the other side of the coffin.
The body was kept for about an hour and Khaleda remained there for at least 40 minutes, offering prayers beside Koko’s body.
After that the coffin lid was locked in the presence of Khaleda and she emerged from the room after bidding her younger child a final farewell.
Almost all of the family, except elder brother Tarique Rahman and his family, was present at the office.
Tarique wants to return
BNP Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman wants to return to Dhaka to see his younger brother Arafat Rahman Koko one last time.
Tarique is willing to confront the legal cases pending against him on returning to the country, but his relatives have prohibited him from returning, sources with knowledge of the matter said.
The elder son of Khaleda wanted to go to Malaysia to see his brother’s remains but failed to go because of visa complications.
The two brothers last met on June 4, 2014, when Tarique went to Malaysia.
Party insiders said Tarique broke into tears on hearing the news of Koko’s death.
Sources said Tarique told his close aides that he would go to Bangladesh to see Koko’s remains, braving legal action against him and the possibility of a jail sentence, if need be.
But his relatives have repeatedly advised him against it, sources close to the matter said.
