Bangladesh paying respect to Language Movement martyrs

Bangladesh is remembering with floral tributes the Language Movement martyrs who had defied shooting by the security agencies and sacrificed their lives to demand Bangla be made one of Pakistan’s state languages.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 20 Feb 2018, 06:57 PM
Updated : 20 Feb 2018, 11:34 PM

People have flooded the Shaheed Minars throughout the country to pay respect to Salam, Rafique, Shafique, Jabbar and Barkat, whose valiant sacrifice on Feb 21, 1952 secured the Bengalis’ right to mother tongue.

The day is also being observed as International Mother Language Day across the globe, making it the day for ensuring the right to all the languages.

In Bangladesh, the observation started as President Md Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina led tributes by placing wreaths on the Central Shaheed Minar in Dhaka in the first hour of Wednesday.

The immortal line -- “‘Amar Bhaier Rokte Rangano Ekushey February, Ami Ki Bhulite Pari’ (Can I forget the twenty-first of February, incarnadined by the love of my brother?) -- was on everyone’s lips.

Hasina laid another wreath with the leaders of the ruling Awami League after Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury.

The leaders of the 14-party ruling coalition honoured the martyrs after Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Raushon Ershad paid her respects.   

Army chief General Abu Belal Muhammad Shafiul Huq, Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal Abu Esrar, Navy chief Admiral Nizamuddin Ahmed, and Inspector General of Police Jabed Patwary laid wreaths afterwards.

After Attorney General Mahbubey Alam paid his tribute to the martyrs, Dhaka-based foreign diplomats placed wreaths on the Shaheed Minar.

A group of journalists from India who are in Dhaka to attend a media dialogue also came.

Sector commanders of the 1971 Liberation War and leaders of Freedom Fighters’ Command Council paid respects.

Dhaka University Vice-Chancellor Md Akhtaruzzaman, members of its syndicate and senate and leaders of its teachers’ association placed flowers on the Shaheed Minar.

During the first hour of Amar Ekushey, leaders of two factions of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal or JaSoD, Workers Party, Communist Party of Bangladesh or CPB, Samyobadi Dal, three factions of Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal or BaSaD and many other political parties paid tribute to the martyrs.

The BNP, with its chief Khaleda Zia in jail for corruption, was absent. The leaders of the party said they would place wreath on the Shaheed Minar in the morning.

Among the student organisations, Bangladesh Chhatra League, Bangladesh Chhatra Union, Chhatra Moitree, and Samajtantrik Chhatra Front came to pay respect.

Thousands stood in queues with flowers in their hands to place at the altar of the Central Shaheed Minar before midnight. After the distinguished citizens left Shaheed Minar at midnight, it was opened to the general public to pay tribute.

The law-enforcing agencies took extra security measures at Dhaka University and adjacent areas, clamping restrictions on the movement of vehicles and pedestrians.

President Hamid in a message on the day emphasised protection and preservation of all languages in the world.

"Keeping the inspiration for Ekushey in mind, let the people of different languages be united, let the near-defunct languages of the world be revived in their respective communities and let the world flourish with diverse languages and cultures," he said.

In her message, Hasina urged all to sink their differences in the spirit of Ekushey and work together for national development.

"Let us work together with the spirit of the immortal Ekushey keeping aside all differences for the development of the country, upholding the democratic values and build a non-communal, hunger and poverty-free and happy-prosperous Sonar Bangladesh as dreamt by the Father of the Nation,” she said.

Noting that the UNESCO recognised the day as International Mother Language Day when the Awami League was in power in 1999, she said the government is now working to establish Bangla as one of the official languages at the UN.

The Leader of the Opposition Raushon Ershad also urged all to work together drawing inspiration from the Language Movement martyrs’ sacrifices.

Special programmes are also being organised at the United Nations’ headquarters in New York, marking the International Mother Language Day.

Besides these, programmes are also being held at the Bangladesh Mission in the UN.

The day is a national holiday. The national flag will fly at half-mast in honour of the martyrs.