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Nation pays homage to language martyrs |
![]() President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina stand in solemn silence after placing wreaths at the Central Shaheed Minar at one minute past midnight last night. PHOTO: PID Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina arrived at the Shaheed
Minar few minutes before the clock struck 12 midnight, while President
Abdul Hamid reached the Central Shaheed Minar five minutes before the
zero hour. President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
proceeded to the altar of the Central Shaheed Minar together in slow
pace as the immortal song on Amar Ekushey- 'Amar Bhaiyer Rakte Rangano
Ekushey February' -- was playing. The President was the first to
lay the wreath at the Central Shaheed Minar. Just after the President,
the Prime Minister placed the wreath at the Shaheed Minar. They
stood in solemn silence for some time as a mark of profound respect to
the memories of the language heroes. Speaker, Deputy Speaker,
ministers, advisers to the Prime Minister, parliament members, the
chiefs of the three services, diplomats, senior Awami League leaders,
high civil and military officials were present on the occasion. On
his arrival at the Shaheed Minar, the President was received by Prime
Minister Sheikh Hasina and Vice Chancellor of Dhaka University Prof Dr
Md Akhtaruzzaman. Flanked by Cabinet members and senior leaders of
the party, Sheikh Hasina, also the President of Bangladesh Awami
League, later placed another wreath at the Shaheed Minar on behalf of
the party. Different political parties, their front organisations as
well as socio-cultural organisations have drawn up various programmes
to pay their homage to the language martyrs all day long. As BNP
Chairperson Khaleda Zia is in jail, the party leaders did not go to the
Shaheed Minar at night. They along with party leaders and activists were
scheduled to gather in front of Balaka Cinema Hall around 6:30am and
then go to Azimpur Graveyard. Later, they would go to the Central Shaheed Minar to pay homage to the Language Movement heroes. Meanwhile,
law enforcement agencies took all-out security measures in and round
the Central Shaheed Minar to ensure smooth observance of Amar Ekushey. It's
February 21 today, the Amar Ekushey. On the day of February 21 in 1952,
thousands of students of schools, colleges and universities and several
ordinary people had brought out processions violating Section 144
against the decision of the-then Pakistani government to declare 'Urdu'
as the state language instead of Bangla. The Pakistani occupation
forces fired on the procession, which was brought out demanding same
status of state language for Bangla, claiming many lives including that
of Rafique, Jabbar, Barkat and Salam and fatally injuring some others.
Their death breathed fire into the language movement. The nation
will observe the 68th Language Martyrs' Day, which is now recognized as
'International Mother Language Day', to commemorate the language
movement martyrs through various programmes. The nation will pay
glowing tributes to the language movement martyrs, who laid down their
lives for the recognition of Bangla as a state language on this day 68
years ago. Humming 'Amar Bhaiyer Rokte Rangano Ekushey February...',
thousands of Bangalees thronged the Central Shaheed Minar in the capital
and elsewhere across the country in the early hours today to pay homage
to the language heroes. With Bangladesh, 193 countries across the
globe will observe the day, as the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on November 17 of 1999,
declared February 21 as the International Mother Language Day. Amar
Ekushey, the International Mother Language Day, is now an occasion to
ponder the significance or the current relevance of the sacrifices made
by language martyrs 68 years ago. President Md. Abdul Hamid and Prime
Minister Sheikh Hasina have given separate statements marking
celebration of the Amar Ekushey. The day is a public holiday. The
national flags will be hoisted half-mast in all educational institutions
and government, semi-government and autonomous offices in respect for
the language martyrs. To mark the day, the Central Shaheed Minar and
its adjacent areas on Dhaka University campus wore a colourful look with
street paintings and graffiti with Bangla alphabets and verses about
mother languages on the walls. Barefooted, hundreds marched on to
pay respects. Donning black and white, the words of the all-too familiar
song 'Amar Bhaiyer Rokte Rangano Ekushey February...', touched their
lips, a bittersweet remembrance of a momentous time. Bangladesh Betar
and Bangladesh Television and private radio stations and television
channels will air special programmes on the occasion. Throughout the country, people will observe the day through holding various programmes. What
began with an agitation programme by some students on the Dhaka
University campus on December 6 in 1947 in protest at discussions in
different government forums about making Urdu the state language,
reached its climax on the morning of February 21 of 1952. The
students of schools, colleges and universities along with ordinary
people under the leadership of Abdul Matin and Gaziul Haque gathered on
the DU campus near Dhaka Medical College Hospital, violating Section 144
imposed by the-then government on that day to restrict assembly and
protest programmes. But, the procession brought out was fired upon by
police. Finally, the Pakistan government was compelled to include an
article in the country's constitution on February 29, 1956 that
declared, "The state languages of Pakistan shall be 'Urdu' and
'Bengali'." Ekushey planted the seed of freedom in the hearts of
Bangalees and 19 years later, an independent country named 'Bangladesh'
was born in 1971 with the same spirit to ensure basic rights of the
Bangalees. |