Let Martyrs’ Day spirit be the light of hope

Thereport24.com, Dhaka:

On February 21, 1952, people of then East Pakistan, which is now Bangladesh, had to rise up against the Pakistani ruler to secure their rights to speak in Bangla.

The movement for language at the time, which claimed the lives of Salam, Rafiq, Barkat, Jabbar, Shafiq and others, led to struggle for independence later.

In 1971, after a sanguinary war, we got an independent country on the world map, which also enabled us to claim ourselves as an independent nation.

Today, Bangla is the only state language of independent Bangladesh. It is also the fifth most spoken language of the world, with as many as 35 crore people using the language to communicate with each other.

Every year, 21 February is observed as the Martyrs’ Day in commemoration of the language heroes of 1952. And the fact that the day is now observed as the International Mother Language Day across the globe demonstrates that the sacrifice our language martyrs made several decades ago has not gone unrecognized.

On this day, millions of people pay respect to language martyrs all over the world and also express love for their own mother tongues.

For the past several weeks, the country has descended into unrest and turbulence, which has threatened our democracy, security, economy and development. No one has a clue to when it will be over or how.

People do not want to live in a society characterized by political crisis. They do not want to see the faces who were the victims of political violence. Nevertheless, we are yet to see a sign which can make us optimistic about the restoration of peace and stability.

This year’s Martyrs’ Day will be observed amid this gloomy picture of the country’s political arena.

We have the conviction that the spirit of the Martyrs’ Day will show us ways to effectively overcome the ongoing crisis.

Ends/thereport24.com/MI/Feb 21, 2015