Khoka’s body to arrive Thursday

The body of freedom fighter and former mayor of undivided Dhaka City Corporation Sadeque Hossain Khoka is expected to arrive in Bangladesh from US on Thursday morning.

A flight of Emirates Airline carrying his body will leave New York's JF Kennedy Airport around 11:30 pm Tuesday (local time) and it is expected to reach at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport around 8:10 am on Thursday (Bangladesh time), family members told The Daily Star.

The first namaz-e-janaza of Khoka is scheduled to be held at the South Plaza of Parliament Complex around 11:00 am on the day, Syrul Kabir Khan, a staff of BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia’s media wing, told The Daily Star.

Later, the body will be kept on the premises of the Central Shaheed Minar so that people from all classes and professions can pay their last respect to the departed soul.

After Zuhr prayer, the second namaz-e-janaza will be held in front of BNP Nayapaltan central office and the third one will be held at Dhaka South City Corporation premise around 3:00 pm.

The last namaz-e-janaza of Khoka will be held at Dhupkhola play ground on the same day and he will be buried at Jurain graveyard in the capital.

A namaz-e-janaza of the BNP leader was held at Jamaica Muslim Center in New York where a number of Bangladeshis living in the US joined there.

Khoka, also the vice chairman of BNP, passed away yesterday in the USA at the age of 68.

He breathed his last while undergoing treatment for cancer at the hospital. He had been suffering from kidney cancer since 2014 and his condition worsened a few days ago.

Ishraque Hossain, eldest son of Khoka, told The Daily Star over phone that his father wished to be buried at Jurain graveyard where his grandparents were laid to rest.

Khoka is survived by his wife Ismat Ara, daughter Sarika Sadeque, sons Ishraque, Isfaque Hossain and a host of relatives, followers and well-wishers to mourn his death.

He along with his wife went to the USA in 2014 for treatment while the validity of their passports expired in 2017.