{"id":3589,"date":"2015-01-27T15:56:26","date_gmt":"2015-01-27T15:56:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/english.thesunrisetoday.com\/?p=3589"},"modified":"2015-01-27T15:56:26","modified_gmt":"2015-01-27T15:56:26","slug":"koko-laid-to-eternal-rest-at-banani","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.thesunrisetoday.com\/index.php\/koko-laid-to-eternal-rest-at-banani\/","title":{"rendered":"Koko laid to eternal rest at Banani"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Baitul<\/a>Arafat Rahman Koko, the younger son of former president Ziaur Rahman and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, was laid to rest at Banani Graveyard on Tuesday.
\nKoko was buried around 6:40 pm following his second and final namaze-Janaza at Baitul Mukarram National Mosque.
\nApart from family members, friends and well-wishers and hundreds of people, including senior BNP leaders, were present during the burial.
\nHis first namaz-e-janaza was held in Malaysia on the premises of the country\u2019s National Mosque Negara on Saturday. The Imam of the mosque led the janaza.
\nKoko\u2019s second and the final namaz-e-janaza was held at Baitul Mukarram National Mosque after Asr prayers on Tuesday.
\nKhatib of the National Mosque Prof Mohammad Salahuddin conducted the janaza at 5.13 pm amid tight security and subsequently offered a munajat seeking salvation of Koko\u2019s departed soul.
\nThousands of people from the all walks of life attended the janaza that swelled from Paltan crossing to Janata Bank head office on one side and Paltan Crossing-GPO intersection to Gulistan Cinema Hall o the other.
\nBikolpa Dhara president AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury, Krishok Sramik Janata League president Abdul Quader Siddique, Liberal Democratic League president Oli Ahmed, BNP standing committee members, including Moudud Ahmed, Lt Gen (retd) Mahbubur Rahman, Rafiqul Islam Miah, Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan, Nazrul Islam Khan, vice chairman Shah Moazzem Hossain, Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yusuf, Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, Abdullah Al Noman, Hafizuddin Ahmed, BNP chairperson\u2019s advisers, senior leaders of BNP and its associate bodies and top leaders of the BNP-led 20-party alliance, among others, joined the janaza.
\nAfter the janaza, the body was kept at the South Plaza of the national mosque until 5:45pm as people paid their last respects to him.
\nLater, the mortal remains of Koko were taken to Banani Graveyard and buried there.
\nThough BNP had sought permission for the burial of the Khaleda\u2019s younger son at Banani Army Graveyard in the capita, it was turned down by the authorities in the morning.
\nKalyan Party chairman Maj Gen (retd) M Ibrahim, on behalf of the BNP-led 20-party alliance, at a press briefing at BNP chairperson\u2019s Gulshan political office said, \u201cWe\u2019ve got disheartened as we were not given the permission to bury the body (of Koko) at the army graveyard despite fulfilling all the criteria.\u201d
\nDenied permission to bury him at Banani Army Graveyard, Zia family members and BNP leaders later decided to bury him at the Banani Graveyard. Earlier in the day, the flight carrying the body of Koko landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport around 11:45am.
\nBNP chairperson\u2019s personal assistant Mahbub Al-Amin Dew and one of Koko\u2019s brother-in-laws received Koko\u2019s body at the hangar gate No 8 at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport and left the airport in an ambulance of a private hospital under a police escort around 12:20pm.
\nFrom the airport an ambulance of Alif medical service carrying Koko\u2019s body entered the compound of the BNP chairperson\u2019s Gulshan office at
\n1:39 pm.
\nHundreds of BNP activists gathered around the office to pay their tributes. However, officials at the BNP chief\u2019s political office didn\u2019t allow anyone except Khaleda\u2019s relatives to the office.
\nThe BNP chief appeared in the room where the body was kept around 1.55 pm along with the wives of her brothers Sayeed Iskander and Shamim Iskander from the first floor of her office.
\nKhaleda was there beside the coffin of his son until it was taken out of the room around 2:45 pm as her relatives tried to console the grief-stricken mother.
\nShe touched the body crying, \u201cMy Koko, My Koko\u201d. Khaleda followed the coffin up to the car passage of her office and kept on crying as the body was taken out for janaza. The body reached the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque around 4.45 pm.
\nKhaleda last met her younger son in Bangkok in June 2013 on her way to the United States.
\nArafat Rahman Koko died in Malaysia on Saturday at the age of 45.<\/p>\n

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