Political speech mars mourning atmosphere
Mourners, who thronged the BNP chairperson’s office at Gulshan to pay tribute to Khaleda Zia’s younger son Arafat Rahman Koko, were caught by surprise when an anti-government speech began suddenly.
Stopping recitation from the Holy Quran, Shamsur Rahman Shimul Biswas, special assistant to the BNP chairperson, took the microphone and started a protest speech around 1:30pm, our correspondent reported from the spot.
“This oppressive government has harried Arafata Rahman Koko to death,” Biswas said immediately after the body of Koko, who died of cardiac arrest in Kuala Lumpur Saturday, was taken to Khaleda’s office.
Koko’s body was flown in at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 11:50am and was later taken to the BNP chief’s Gulshan office where she had been staying since law enforcers confined her there on January 3.
Recitation from Holy Quran began in the morning and was continuing until Shimul Biswas started his speech.
Saying that a large number of people would take part in the namaz-e-janaza (burial prayer), he said: “This janaza will become a massive protest against the government.”
The anti-government movement would continue until the fall of the Awami League government, he said.
“While the government is filing cases against the opposition leaders, it is expressing condolence on the death of the chairperson’s son. This is a dual stand and conflicting,” Biswas alleged.
Many people, who gathered there to pay respect to Koko, could not like this.
“There should not be such angry political speeches in such times. We are here to mourn his (Koko’s) death,” a man said. He declined to give his name.
Several BNP workers also reacted, saying they did not get why Shimul Biswas chose such a time to make a political speech.
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