Bangladesh consulate in New York informed the family of former mayor of Dhaka City Corporation Sadeque Hossain Khoka, who is currently fighting for his life at a NY hospital, that it has nothing to do with the issuance of the passport, his eldest son said today.

Khoka, two-time mayor of undivided Dhaka City Corporation and vice-chairman of BNP, is in critical condition at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan, NY.

“I was told from the embassy that they have nothing to do about the application for passports (Khoka and his wife Ismat Ara),” Khoka’s son Ishraque Hossain said in a video message today.

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Khoka in a critical condition

“If we apply for a travel document, in that case they (the embassy) will help,’’ he added.  

Ishraque went to the Bangladesh consulate today with a letter written by his mother addressing the Consul General of Bangladesh Consulate to kindly assess their situation and provide them with the passports as quickly as possible.

In the video message, Ishraque further said after his parent’s passports expired in 2017, they applied for renewed passports to the consulate but they did not receive any answer yet.

Khoka, who is also a freedom fighter, stepped into politics through Moulana Bhasani’s National Awami Party (NAP). Later, he joined BNP, and was made the party’s Dhaka city unit president.

Khoka was first elected MP in 1991. Later, he contested Dhaka City Corporation election in 2002 and was elected mayor. He held the post for nearly nine years.

On May 14, 2014, Khoka went to the USA on travel visa for receiving cancer treatment. His wife also went there with him.