BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi on Wednesday described the circumstances surrounding the death of Arafat Rahman Koko as “extremely heartbreaking and tragic,” saying he could recall no greater tragedy than a mother having to hold the body of her son and calling it an expression of political revenge.

He made the remarks after offering Fateha and placing floral wreaths at the grave Koko, younger son of BNP founder and late president Ziaur Rahman and former prime minister Khaleda Zia, at Banani graveyard in the morning, marking Koko’s 57th birth anniversary.

Rizvi said he died in an extremely difficult environment and at a time when the country was witnessing “ultimate manifestation of fascism.”

“Koko could no longer cope with the situation. He was suffering from heart disease and was sick. In that situation he died of cardiac arrest,” Rizvi said.

Referring to Khaleda Zia’s confinement when Koko’s body was brought back to Bangladesh, Rizvi said she was being kept under blockade with trucks loaded with sand and timber.

“She had an injury to her eye and had undergone an eye operation. At that very moment, pepper spray was used to make her even more sick while she was being kept confined. And at that very moment, the body of her son was placed in her lap,” he said.

“I cannot recall any tragic event in the world comparable to this. This tragedy surpassed all other tragedies, the body of a son in his mother’s lap. It was an expression of revenge,” Rizvi said.

He accused ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina of using every possible means to harass Zia family and erase its presence and popularity among people. “She tarnished their image, spread propaganda and lies, not a single one of which she could prove,” he said.

Rizvi said Hasina had done so to serve her desire for absolute dominance and to remain in power. “There was nothing Sheikh Hasina did not do to destroy this family of the Liberation War,” he said.

Rizvi claimed Hasina’s family had no contribution to the Liberation War and said her father and she herself had stayed under the patronage and protection of the Pakistani ruling authorities.

“Why this revenge? Because Ziaur Rahman declared independence? Because his wife and two sons remained imprisoned because of that declaration of independence?” he asked.

He said Hasina could never tolerate Ziaur Rahman’s patriotism and popularity among people and therefore subjected his family to repeated suffering.