Sahara Khatun to be laid to rest on Saturday
A special flight carrying her body will depart from Bangkok airport at 9 pm (BDST)
Former minister Sahara Khatun will be laid to rest on Banani graveyard on Saturday.
A special flight carrying her body will leave Bangkok airport for Dhaka at 9 pm (Bangladesh Standard Time). The flight is scheduled to arrive at Dhaka airport early Saturday, sources at Bangladesh Awami League told The Business Standard.
Her namaz-e-janaza will take place at Banani Graveyard Mosque at noon and she will be laid to rest at the graveyard beside her mother.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
"The namaz-e-janaza will take place on a limited scale. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has instructed everyone to maintain proper health guidelines while attending the namaz-e-janaza," Barrister Biplob Barua, office secretary of Awami League Central Committee told The Business Standard.
Sahara Khatun, the first woman home minister of the country, breathed her last at 11:25 pm (BDST) on Thursday in Thailand's Bumrungrad International Hospital.
She was flown there on July 6 for better treatment.
Before going to Thailand, the 77-year-old lawmaker was undergoing treatment at the capital's United Hospital with several health complications since June 2.
President Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and presidium members of Awami League have expressed deep sorrow at the death of Sahara Khatun.
Born on March 1, 1943, Sahara Khatun was involved in politics since her student life.
She entered the national political scene in 1991 when she contested in the 5th parliamentary election as an Awami League candidate.
Since then, Sahara Khatun continued being a crucial part of Awami League's politics.
She came in the scene again in 2008 upon the arrest of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during the caretaker government's regime.
Sahara Khatun was one of the forerunners to induce a legal as well as a political battle in Hasina's favour. She was charged with politically motivated crimes.
Sahara Khatun served as the home minister from 2009 to 2012.
In a cabinet reshuffle in 2012, she was relieved of her duties as the home minister and made the minister for the posts & telecommunications ministry.
