The BNP has announced three days’ mourning of the death of Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s younger son Arafat Rahman Koko from today.
BNP chief’s Special Assistant Shamsur Rahman Shimul Biswas yesterday said Koko’s body would arrive in Dhaka tomorrow at 9am.
Meanwhile, the first Namaz-e-Janaza of Koko was held at the Masjid Negara, the national mosque of Malaysia, after Zohr prayers yesterday, BNP leader Bazlur Rahman, who lives in Malaysia, told reporters.
Khaleda’s younger brother Shamim Iskander and her adviser Mosaddek Ali Falu, who along with a few relatives flew to Malaysia to bring back Koko’s body, attended the Namaz-e-Janaza along with a large number of people.
BNP leaders and Bangladeshi expatriates living in Penang, Putrajaya, Genting Highlands, Cameron Highlands, Bukit Bintang and several other areas of Malaysia took part in the janaza and laid floral wreaths on Koko’s coffin.
His body was then taken to the mortuary at the University Malaya Medical Centre.
Koko died of heart failure on Saturday afternoon while on the way to a Kuala Lumpur hospital.
Politicians and diplomats yesterday visited Khaleda’s Gulshan office to express their condolences but none was able to meet the former prime minister.
British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Robert W Gibson, Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Dhaka David Meale and several officials of other embassies were among those who went to the Gulshan office.
BNP Standing Committee member Abdul Moyeen Khan and Vice-Chairman Selima Rahman received the diplomats, who signed on a condolence book kept on the ground floor of the two-storey building.
As part of BNP’s mourning black flags would be hoisted in all party offices across the country on the three days while activists would wear black badges, said Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, joint secretary general of the party, in a press release.
The statement said Koko’s janaza will be held in front of the party’s Nayapaltan office after Asr prayers tomorrow and a Gayebana Janaza will be held across the country on Wednesday.
Rizvi said in the statement that the army-backed caretaker government had been the outcome of the Awami League’s movement and Koko fell ill because of the mental and physical torture he had been subjected to by that administration.
“Koko and the party chairperson were arrested on the same day. After his arrest, he was tortured brutally which eventually led to his cardiac arrest. After that, the Awami League government repetitively filed false cases against Koko,” he added.
