Arafat Rahman Coco’s family has been refused permission to bury him at the military graveyard in Banani, says Syed Muhammad Ibrahim, chief of the Bangladesh Kalyan Party (BKP), a BNP alliance partner.
The BNP is yet to comment on the issue, though the police and city corporation authorities have asked it to make preparations for the burial at the Banani graveyard.
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s youngest son Coco, who was convicted for smuggling money out of the country, died in Malaysia after suffering a cardiac arrest on Saturday.
A Malaysia Airlines flight carrying his body landed at Dhaka around 11:30am on Tuesday. His wife, two daughters, uncle Shamim Eskandar and Khaleda’s senior aide Mosaddek Ali Falu came to Dhaka on the same flight.
Senior BNP leader Nazrul Islam Khan had told reporters on Monday that the family had sought permission to bury Coco at the military graveyard.
“Coco deserves it as the son of former army chief.
“We believe that permission will be secured and it will happen there,” Khan said.
However, on Tuesday, BKP Chairman Ibrahim told reporters that the permission had been denied.
“I can only say that the permission has been denied. I cannot say anything else,” he said replying to a query by members of the press gathered in front of Khaleda’s Gulshan office.
A senior police official, however, told bdnews24.com that the authorities of the Banani graveyard had been directed to make preparations for Coco’s burial.
Dhaka City Corporation (North) Chief Executive BM Enamul Haque told bdnews24.com: “Arafat Rahman Coco will not be buried at the military graveyard. We have received orders and the Banani graveyard authorities are taking preparations for that.”
He, however, did not say from whom they got the orders.
Coco’s body has been taken to Khaleda’s Gulshan office, where the BNP chief has been living since Jan 3. It will be taken to the Baitul Mokarram National Mosque around 4pm for the Namaz-e-Janaza, the BNP had said earlier.
Source: bdnews24