International Mother Language Day: Bangladesh pays homage to language movement heroes

Dhaka [Bangladesh], Feb. 21 (ANI): As the clock struck midnight, Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid led the nation in paying tributes by placing wreaths at Central Shaheed Minar to pay homage to the language movement heroes on International Mother Language Day . Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and other leasers also placed a wreath at the altar after the President. They stood in silence for some time as a mark of respect to the memories of the language heroes, reports the Daily Star. Humming "Amar Bhaiyer Rokte Rangano Ekushey February...", thousands of people thronged the Central Shaheed Minar in the capital and elsewhere in the early hours today to pay homage to the language heroes. With Bangladesh, International Mother Language Day will today be celebrated across the globe, as the Unesco declared it the in 1999. On this day in 1952, students and people took to the streets in Dhaka to protest the then Pakistan government's refusal to recognise Bangla as one of the state languages and imposition of Urdu as the only official language of Pakistan. Following the movement, the Pakistani 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." (ANI)