The month-long Amar Ekushey Book Fair-2008

February marks commemoration of Language Movement Martyrs
Fri, Feb 1st, 2008 3:27 pm BdST


Dhaka, Feb 01 — Friday marks the beginning of February's month long commemoration of the sacrifices made by the Language Movement Martyrs in 1952.

The names of Salam, Barkat, Rafique, Jabbar and Safiur are remembered for their enduring sacrifice to the nation.

Social, cultural and political organisations have drawn up various programmes to mark the events of February 1952, when the former East Pakistan fought for the right to speak in their mother tongue.

Many historians trace the attempted imposition of Urdu as the national language of East Pakistan in the post partition period as one of the key factors leading up to the Liberation War of 1971.

The struggle to maintain Bengali as the national language has been recognised around the world, with Feb 21 now celebrated globally as International Mother Language Day.




Fri, Feb 1st, 2008 1:01 pm BdST


Dhaka, Feb 1 —The month-long Amar Ekushey Book Fair—offering book lovers 373 stalls from 236 publishing bodies—is to be inaugurated Friday afternoon.

There will also be a 'writers' corner' at Nazrul Mancha from which writers will launch new books, while visitors will be provided with fax and internet facilities for the first time.

As every year, the venue has been divided into five sections commemorating martyred language movement veterans Salam, Rafik, Jabbar, Barkat and Shafiur.

A portrait will be installed in the memory of Chittaranjan Saha, late publisher of Muktodhara, the pioneer of the book fair.


The Bangla Academy this year has allotted 373 stalls to 236 organisations, which include publishing houses as well as government, private and voluntary organisations.
Bangla Academy director Syed Md Shahed said the academy itself had published some 40 books on different issues this year and another 15 books would be published during the fair.

There will be one pavilion for the Nazrul Institute and two for 22 little magazines.

The fair was open from 3pm to 9pm on weekdays, from 11am to 9pm on weekends and from 8am to 10pm to mark International Mother Language Day on Feb 21. There will be a break for two hours from 12 noon on Fridays.


Visitors was provided with fax and internet facilities to exchange information on the fair for the first time.

The month-long festival shown cultural programmes every evening.

Event management organisation Media Step is undertaking the staging and lighting. A number of decorative gates have also been erected across the avenue in front of the academy from Shikkha Bhaban to Dhaka University's TSC.

The academy's coordination and public relations department will hold a press conference titled Gronthomela Protidin at 5.30pm every day in the seminar room.

21 February__International Mother Language Day

With around 207 million speakers and occupying the 7th spot in the list of the world's most widely spoken languages, Bangla is a dynamic language that continues to grow. Yet it is one that is not appreciated enough, often sidelined for other foreign languages.We only realize its value during Ekushey February, the International Mother Language Day.The truth, however, is that Bangla is one of the most lyrical languages out there. Proof enough lies in its poetry, songs and proverbs.One who hasn't explored this realm of Bangla hasn't known it at all.



Ekushey (21 February) observed with reverence Staff Correspondent The Central Shaheed Minar is flooded with flowers placed by thousands of people as homage to the Language Movement martyrs yesterday. Photo: STAR The Central Shaheed Miner was flooded with flowers as thousands barefooted, wearing black ribbons and holding bouquets close to their bosoms thronged there to pay homage to the brave sons of the soil who laid down their lives in 1952 for mother tongue Bangla.

With daybreak people kept flooding in leaving hardly any space for free movement at the Central Shaheed Minar, symbol of the spirit of not bowing down to repression.

On February 21, 1952, Salam, Barkat, Shafiur, Rafiq, Jabbar and a few other brave sons of the soil sacrificed their lives to establish Bangla as one of the state languages of the then Pakistan. The day has since been observed as the Language Martyrs Day. Unesco declared it International Mother Language Day in November 1999. People outside the capital and Bangladesh missions abroad also paid homage to the martyrs placing flowers after midnight at Shaheed Minars.
















It was a public holiday and the national flag alongside black flags flew at half-mast on government, autonomous and private buildings. Bangladesh Embassy in Kathmandu in association with Dabur Nepal, a private organisation, organised a week-long painting exhibition at the embassy marking the day. Bangladesh High Commission in Male organised a poetry reading programme and a discussion at Chancery Building yesterday. Meanwhile, expatriate Bangladeshis in the US paid homage to language martyrs across the country, reports News World.

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