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Published : 20 Feb 2013, 12:34 PM
She made the plea in her speech at the ‘Ekushey Padak’ giving away ceremony Wednesday.
The Prime Minister presented the award to 12 individuals and one institution at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium.
Everyone must put together his/her efforts to create a Bangladesh free from war criminals and founded on knowledge, peace and non-communal feelings, the Prime Minister said.
The Prime Minister cited the language movement to save Bangla in 1952 saying, “The ideals of Feb 21 will have to be spread among the younger generations. The Bangla language and its literature are important tools against the enemies of the nation’s ideals in the society.”
She also mentioned how the United Nations recognised Feb 21 as the International Mother Language Day, to promote preservation and protection of all languages used by various peoples of the world.
“The message of Feb 21 has reached 193 countries of the present world. It is now observed across the world to secure the rights of people from various nations to speak their own languages,” she said.
The winners of this year’s ‘Ekushey Padak’ are MA Wadud for the Language Movement (posthumously), Professor Ajit Kumar Guha (posthumously), Principal M Quamruzzaman (posthumously) and Tofazzal Hossain.
The awards for Language and Literature went to Poet Asad Chowdhury and Rafiq Azad.
The winners of the medals for Art and Culture are poet Bijay Sarkar (posthumously), singer Kaderia Kibria and actor Jamaluddin Hossain.
Minister for Social Welfare Enamul Haque Mostafa Shaheed received the award for his contribution to the Liberation War of 1971.
Nurjahan Murshid (posthumous) and Samson H Chowdhury (posthumous) were awarded for their contribution to social welfare.
‘Bangladesh Udichi Shilpi Gosthi’ also received this year’s award -- one of the premier civilian awards in Bangladesh, introduced in the memory of martyrs of the Language Movement of 1952.
