Kokoa’s son Ishraque Hossain on Wednesday said his father has been undergoing treatment at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

“I’m in a flight as I’m going to the USA. My father’s condition is cortical. I call upon all to pray for him,” he told UNB through an SMS on WhatsApp around 2pm. 

He said Khoka has long been suffering from kidney cancer and his condition worsened a few days back.

Meanwhile, BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir at a press conference also urged all to pray for the early recovery of their party vice chairman Khoka. “He has been suffering from cancer, and now undergoing treatment in a very critical condition at a hospital [in the USA].”

Khoka, a freedom fighter, stepped into politics through joining Moulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani’s National Awami Party (NAP).

Later, he joined BNP, and was made party’s Dhaka city unit president.

Khoka was first elected MP in 1991 from Sutrapur-Kotwali seat and subsequently made State Minister for Youth and Sports.

He was elected MP from the same seat in 2001 and given the charge of the Minister of Fisheries and Livestock.

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

Khoka, also a former minister, was arrested days before the January-5 national election in 2014.

Released on bail from jail, he was admitted to Birdem Hospital in the capital, but doctors could not exactly detect his health problem.

Later, he went to the USA on May 14, 2014 and has been receiving treatment there since then.

BNP organising secretary Emran Saleh Prince said their party will arrange a doa mahfil at its Nayapaltan central office on Friday, seeking speedy recovery of Khoka.