Bangladesh pays tribute to language movement martyrs

Dhaka: Bangladesh paid tribute to the martyrs of the Language Movement on the occasion of Amar Ekushey and the International Mother Language Day today.

The Language Movement martyrs had laid down their lives on this day, while advocating the recognition of the Bengali language as an official language in order to allow its use in government affairs, the continuation of its use as a medium of education, its use in media, currency and stamps and to maintain its writing in the Bengali script.

"Amar Bhaiyer Rokte Rangano Ekushey February...," The Daily Star quoted thousands of people as saying, while thronging the Central Shaheed Minar in Dhaka and elsewhere to pay homage to the language heroes.

The Shaheed Minar and its adjacent areas in the Dhaka University campus marked the occasion by giving a colourful look to the premises of the university with street paintings and graffiti depicting Bangla alphabets and verses about mother languages.

The national flag of Bangladesh will be hoisted at half-mast in the country to show respect to the language movement martyrs.Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina paid their tribute to the language movement martyrs by placing wreaths at the Shaheed Minar and stood in solemn silence as a mark of respect to them.Hundreds of people walked barefoot to the Shaheed Minar, later, when it was opened for the public to pay tribute to the martyrs.

With Bangladesh, 193 countries across the globe will observe this day, as the Unesco declared it the International Mother Language Day.