Shawdesh Desk:

The body of Sadeque Hossain Khoka, former mayor of undivided Dhaka City Corporation, will be flown back home and laid him in rest in Dhaka as per his last wish if the government issues travel permit, a family source said.

Khoka, the vice chairman of the BNP wished to be buried in Bangladesh when he was undergoing treatment at the New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

The family members of the valiant freedom fighter were unable to bring him home before his death as he did not have any Bangladeshi passport in his possession.

Earlier, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina directed the authorities concerned to take necessary steps so that the former mayor of undivided Dhaka City Corporation can return home without any hassle in spite of some legal barriers.

On Sunday, the BNP sought assistance from the government to bring back the valiant freedom fighter.

Later, State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam said in a message shared on his Facebook wall that Bangladesh Mission in New York is ready to issue ‘travel permit’ if the family of the former mayor of Dhaka City Corporation Sadeque Hossain Khoka applies for that.

Later, the family members of Khoka applied for the travel permit.

On May 14, 2014, Khoka, who also served as a fisheries and livestock minister, and his wife went to the USA with travel visa for cancer treatment.

Sadeque Hossain Khoka breathed his last at the New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center at around 2:20pm (Bangladesh time) on Monday.