Awami League condolences for Coco

Ruling Awami League has officially mourned the death of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s son Arafat Rahman Coco.

Publication secretary of the party Hasan Mahmud expressed the official condolence at a press conference in Dhaka on Sunday.

He also pulled up BNP for turning away Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who went to Khaleda’s office at Gulshan to console her for loss of her son.

He said the claim of BNP chief’s Special Aide Shamsur Rahman Shimul Biswas that the condolence book was brought to the gate of the office was a ‘fiction’.

“The prime minister had waited in front of the Gulshan office for around 12 minutes. We’ve heard that Shimul Biswas brought the condolence book.

“The prime minister stood only five yards from the gate. Shimul Biswas should not need more than a minute to get it for her ,” he said.

“The story of the condolence book is to hide the real fact,” he added.

Coco died of heart failure in Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur in the afternoon while he was being taken to a hospital.

The 45-year-old has been staying in Kuala Lumpur since 2011.

He had moved to Malaysia from Bangkok where he had gone in July 2008 for treatment after the then military-backed caretaker government had paroled him.