Nation pays homage to language heroes

In the stillness of the early hours of Ekushey February, Bangladesh started honouring the memory of those who sacrificed their lives for their mother tongue defying the brutal repression of the Pakistani colonial rulers, report agencies.
On Friday, as the first hour unfolded, thousands gathered in solemn tribute at the Central Shaheed Minar in the capital - their hands laden with flowers, their hearts heavy with remembrance.
The observance, steeped in both sorrow and pride, begins amid the charged atmosphere of the July Uprising.
President Mohammed Shahabuddin and Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus led the tributes as the mournful strains of "Amar Bhayer Rokte Rangano Ekushey February/Ami Ki Bhulite Pari…" played through the loudspeakers, filling the air with echoes of history.
For Shahabuddin, this was his second time paying tribute as the president, but in a markedly different political reality shaped by the recent mass uprising.
Yunus, having assumed leadership in the wake of the Awami League's ouster, paid his respects by laying flowers at the memorial for the first time ever as the Chief Adviser.
Dhaka University Vice Chancellor Professor Niaz Ahmed Khan welcomed the Chief Adviser upon his arrival at the Central Shaheed Minar.
Across the nation, from Chattogram to Dhaka, similar tributes unfolded.
The walls surrounding the Shaheed Minar, usually adorned with poems and slogans in homage to the martyrs, bore fresh imprints this year-graffiti reflecting the spirit of the recent July-August mass movement.
In 1999, UNESCO declared Feb 21 International Mother Language Day, transforming what was once a local battle for linguistic rights into a universal call to protect linguistic diversity.
Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed paid tribute to the martyrs of the Language Movement by laying a wreath at the Central Shaheed Minar.
He came to the Dhaka University campus area in the wee hours of Friday to pay his respects.
He was accompanied by justices of the Appellate Division and High Court Division of the Supreme Court, according to a statement.
After presenting their tribute, the judges stood for a moment of silence.
Foreign diplomats based in Dhaka also placed wreaths at the monument in the first hour.
Inspector General of Police, Border Guard Bangladesh's Director General Major General Md Ashrafuzzaman Siddiqui also paid profound respect to the language movement heroes at the Shaheed Minar at the first hour of February 21.
Moreover, several political, social, cultural and voluntary organisations paid their tributes to the martyrs.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) on Friday paid homage to the 1952 Language Movement martyrs marking Amar Ekushey, the Language Martyrs Day, and the International Mother Language Day.
The party central leaders, led by its Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, went to the Central Shaheed Minar in the morning and placed a wreath at its altar.
The leaders and activists of the party gathered in front of Balaka Cinema Hall at Nilkhet at 6:30am wearing black badges. Later, they first offered fateha at the graves of Language Movement martyrs at Azimpur Graveyard.
Later, they went to the Central Shaheed Minar to pay tributes to the martyrs.
BNP chairperson's advisory council members Aman Ullah Aman, Abdus Salam, joint secretaries general Khairul Kabir Khokon, Habib-Un-Nabi Khan Sohel, central leaders Nazimuddin Alam, Dhaka North City unit president Aminul Haq, Jubo Dal president Abdul Monayem Munna and general secretary Nurul Islam Nayan were, among others, present there.
BNP also kept their party and national flags at half-mast and hoisted black flags at its Nayapaltan central office at 6 am in observance of the day.