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All roads lead to Central Shaheed Minar today

President, PM pay homage to Language Martyrs

Published : Monday, 21 February, 2022 at 12:00 AM  Count : 1444
Staff Correspondent
The Central Shaheed Minar is all ready for people to honour the martyrs of the Language Movement. The picture was taken on Sunday. PHOTO: OBSERVER

The Central Shaheed Minar is all ready for people to honour the martyrs of the Language Movement. The picture was taken on Sunday. PHOTO: OBSERVER

It's February 21, the historic Amar Ekushey today. The day is being observed as Language Martyrs Day and International Mother Language Day across the world including Bangladesh. The day is a public holiday.
The grateful Bengali nation is observing the day and paying homage to its illustrious sons martyred in 1952 for their rights to speak in their mother language.
In observance of the day in a befitting manner, the Central Shaheed Minar premises in Dhaka and the Shaheed Minars in all metropolitan cities, district towns, upazila headquarters and unions have been decorated with paintings,
    graffiti, buntings and selected verses on the mother language.
President Md Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have given separate messages recalling the memories of the language martyrs.
Due to ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the government and the Dhaka University authority have imposed restrictions on paying tributes to the martyred intellectuals this year. The people from all walks of life including different social groups and political, cultural, professional and academic organisations and institutions have been requested to pay their tributes in a limited manner. Only five people from all organizations will be allowed to enter the Shaheed Minar for placing wreaths.
President Md Abdul Hamid paid tributes to the language martyrs by placing wreaths at the altar of the central Shaheed Minar after zero hour, followed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Sheikh Hasina along with her cabinet members, advisers, lawmakers and party leaders placed another wreath on behalf of her party.
Besides, Leader of the Opposition in parliament along with his party MPs also paid homage to the Language Movement martyrs by placing wreaths at the Central Shaheed Minar in the wee hours of Monday. Marking the 'Shaheed Dibash' and the International Mother Language Day, the government and Awami League have already taken up elaborate programmes.
Since 1999, the day is being observed as 'Shaheed Dibash' (Language Martyrs Day) at home. Besides, the day is also being observed across the globe as the International Mother Language Day after recognition of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). UNESCO recognised the Ekushey February as the International Mother Language Day on November 17 in 1999.
The day is of significance to all Bengali-speaking and people speaking in other languages across the globe as the spirit of Amar Ekushey has become an inspiration to preserve their respective languages and cultures spreading the history and traditions of the 1952 Movement.
On this day in 1952, students and the common people in Dhaka took to the streets in protest against the then Pakistani government's denial of Bangla as the national language and imposition of Urdu as the only official language of Pakistan.
Salam, Barkat, Rafiq, Jabbar and a few other brave sons of the soil were killed in police firing on the day in 1952 when students came out in a procession from the Dhaka University campus breaching section 144 to press home their demand for the recognition of Bangla as a state language of then Pakistan.
When the warm sunshine, budding flowers and dancing of birds were giving a fresh and colourful look to nature, the killing of the valiant sons of the soil sent shock waves throughout the country. The blazing red and yellow colours of the spring also faded and far away dissolved into silence.
But Bengali people turned the grief of the loss of their sons into strength and promised to continue the fight to make their country independent. When Amar Ekushey knocks on the door each year, the country's people, especially the young generation, observe the day with a fresh vow to work unitedly in order to make the Bengali language worthy and the country's hard-earned independence more meaningful.
The Language Movement was also the turning point of the country's history as it influenced the Bengali people to prepare for the supreme sacrifices and achieve victory. And after 19 years of the Language Movement, the country achieved its cherished independence on December 16 in 1971 in exchange of the lives of three million martyrs and the honour of two lakh women.
Walking barefoot to the Central Shaheed Minar with wreaths and flowers and singing 'Amar bhaiyer rokte rangano Ekushey February', people from all walks of life pay deep respect to the heroes of the Language Movement, who sacrificed their lives for the recognition of Bangla as one of the state languages of erstwhile Pakistan.
Quran Khwani and offering Fateha will be held at Azimpur graveyard in the city while prayers will be arranged at all places of worship across the country seeking salvation of the departed souls of the martyrs of the Language Movement.






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Editor : Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury
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