Nation celebrates international mother language day today in commemoration of martyrs of language movement this day on February 21 in 1952. Salam, Barkat, Rafiq, Shafiur, Jabbar and a few other brave sons of the soil laid down their lives on this day with a view to establishing Bangla as one of the state languages of the then Pakistan.
As the clock struck one minute past zero hours, President Advocate Zillur Rahman placed a floral wreath at the altar of the Central Shaheed Minar as tribute to the gallant Bangalees who laid down their lives 57 years ago to uphold the honour of Bangla language. Thereafter, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina along with her cabinet members paid homage to the Language Movement martyrs. Meanwhile thousands of people from all walks of life had already started collecting at the Shaheed Minar premises since evening of 20 February to pay their respects to the martyrs of '52.
Stringent security has been taken at the Central Shaheed Minar as 7000 police and 750 RAB members have been deployed there. DMP Commissioner Naim Ahmed said police will cordon Shaheed Minar premises, they are assigned to maintain security in two phases from 7 pm to 5am and 5am to 2pm today.
Describing security measures, he said "There will be barricades at 23 places around Shaheed Minar, six archways for public entrance and 28 CCTV cameras for watching the area and metal dictators for identifying explosives. Forces will take position on the roof of high-rise buildings while plainclothes policemen will be vigilant."
On November 17, 1999, the UNESCO declared February 21 as the International Mother Language Day. Countries across the globe have since been observing the day to promote linguistic diversity and multilingual education and raise awareness of cultural traditions based on understanding, tolerance and dialogue.
President Advocate Zillur Rahman and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have issued special statements on this day. Different political and cultural organizations chalked out programmes to observe 21 February.
No comments:
Post a Comment