21 February is a memorable day in our national history. We observe the day every year as International Mother Language Day. The day is a national holiday.
On
this day, we pay tribute to the martyrs who laid down their lives to establish
Bangla as a state language in undivided Pakistan in 1952. The struggle to
achieve our language rights is known as the Language Movement.
The
seed of the Language Movement was shown on 21 March 1948 when Mohammad Ali
Jinnah, the Governor General of Pakistan, declared in a public meeting in Dhaka
that Urdu would be the only state language of Pakistan. The declaration raised
a storm of protest in the eastern part of the country. The protest continued
non-stop, gathering momentum day by day. It turned into a movement and reached
its climax in 1952. The government outlawed all sorts of public meetings and
rallies to stop it.
The
students of Dhaka University defied the law and brought out a peaceful protest
procession on 21 February 1952. When the procession reached near Dhaka Medical
College, the police opened fire on the students, killing Salam, Rafiq, Barkat,
Safiur and Jabbar. As a result, there were mass protests all over the country
and the government had to declare Bangla as a state language. This kindled the
sparks of independence movement of Bangladesh.
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