The second funeral prayer of former mayor of undivided Dhaka City Corporation and BNP vice-chairman Sadeque Hossain Khoka has been completed at the South Plaza of the National Parliament.
Incumbent and former lawmakers, leaders of different political parties including Dhaka North Mayor Atiqul Islam and people from all walks of life took part in the prayers held around 11:15am on Thursday (Nov 7).
The BNP leader’s body is expected to be taken to Central Shaheed Minar where he will be lying in state so that people can pay their respects to the valiant freedom fighter.
Earlier in the day, Khoka’s body arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka around 8:25 am.
The family members of the BNP leader, including his wife Ismat Ara, also returned home in the same flight.
BNP National Standing Committee members Mirza Abbas and Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku received the body on behalf of the party.
His first funeral prayer was held at Jamaica Muslim Center, New York on Monday night where a large number of expatriate Bangladeshis participated.
The former mayor will be laid to rest at Jurain beside his mother after the funeral prayers.
Before the burial, more funeral prayers – one in front of BNP central office after the Zuhr prayers, another at Nagar Bhaban at 3pm and yet another at Dhupkhola field after Asr prayers – will be held in in Dhaka.
After the funeral prayers at Nagar Bhaban, Khoka’s body will be taken to his Gopibagh residence.
Khoka, 67, breathed his last at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan, New York on Monday (Nov 4).
The veteran politician is survived by his wife Ismat Ara, two sons Ishraque and Ishfaque and daughter Sarika.
He stepped into politics through joining Moulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani’s National Awami Party (NAP).
Later, he joined the BNP and was made party’s Dhaka metropolitan unit president.
He was elected mayor of Dhaka City Corporation in 2002 and held the post for nearly nine years.
He went to the US on May 14, 2014 and died on Monday (Nov 4) at a New York Hospital following a long battle with cancer.