Prime minister Sheikh Hasina returned to Ganabhaban after being unable to meet BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia to console her after the premature demise of her son. Hasina, accompanied by her some senior cabinet colleagues, reached Khaleda’s Gulshan office at 8:40pm and waited for few minutes before leaving. Earlier, Khaleda’s special assistant SR Shimul Biswash told reporters at the Gulshan office that Khaleda Zia has been ‘put to sleep with injection as she was upset now’. ‘We will request prime minister not to come now’, he said. ‘We will discuss the matter of Sheikh Hasina’s visit with madam [Khaleda] after she wakes up… we will inform the time and schedule after discussing with madam,’ he said. Arafat Rahman, the youngest son of Khaleda Zia, died of cardiac arrest on Saturday. He died in Malaysia at around 12:30pm (Bangladesh time) on the way to University of Malaya hospital after falling ill at Ampang neighbourhood in Kuala Lumpur, where was residing. On May 9, 2009, BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia also rushed to Sudha Sadan in Dhanmondi to console Hasina after the death of her husband Wazed Miah. Prime minister’s press adviser Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury criticised BNP for not allowing Hasina to meet Khaleda. ‘It is an offhand in political norms to return a prime minister from the gate’, Iqbal said. ‘It was informed that prime minister will come… If it is not informed then, none can return a prime minister from gate… it is offhand in political norms,’ he said. – See more at:
Source: New Age