Ekushey February now also called just Ekushey, 21 February, Shaheed Dibas (Martyrs Day) and, since 2000, international mother language day. On 21 February 1952, corresponding to 8 Falgun 1359 in the Bangla calendar, a number of students campaigning for the recognition of Bangla as one of the state languages of pakistan were killed when police fired upon them. Even before the creation of Pakistan in 1947, there had been demands that Bangla be made the state language of Pakistan. In July 1947, Dr muhammad shahidullah suggested that, after the departure of the British, Bangla could be made the state language of the new state. Shortly after the creation of Pakistan, at the first session of the Pakistan Legislative Assembly on 23 February 1948, dhirendranath datta proposed that Bangla be made one of the languages of the Assembly along with English and urdu. The proposal was rejected. In March 1948, Governor General mohammed ali jinnah arrived in East Pakistan. On 21 March 1948, at a public meeting in dhaka, he declared that Urdu alone would be the state language of Pakistan. Subsequently khwaja nazimuddin, who had become Prime Minister of Pakistan following the assassination of liaquat ali khan, visited East Pakistan in January 1952. On 27 January, at a public meeting at Paltan Maidan, he reiterated Jinnahs pronouncement that Urdu would be the only state language of Pakistan. In protest, the Dhaka University National Language Committee called a token strike on January 30. A meeting was held on the day at Amtala, on the university campus, where students pledged to carry on the language movement. A decision was also taken to observe a strike in all educational institutions of the province on 4 February. The next day, an all-party meeting was held at the Dhaka Bar Library at which Maulana abdul hamid khan bhasani presided. At the meeting a 40-member All-Party National Language Action Committee was formed. The meeting supported the strike call on February 4. Accordingly, a strike was observed in all educational institutions on February 4. A student meeting on the day called for a province-wide hartal on 21 February. The government, on its part, invoked Section 144 on 20 February, banning public meetings, rallies and processions. Opposition politicians were unwilling to get involved in a clash with the government just before a general election. The All-Party National Language Action Committee, which met that night, decided by a majority vote not to violate Section 144. The student community, however, refused to accept this decision. At a meeting on the morning of 21 February on the campus of the arts faculty of the university (now dhaka medical college and hospital), the students unanimously agreed to stick to the earlier decision to defy Section 144. After the meeting, they started gathering on the premises of the Medical College hostel. From there they tried to proceed towards the Provincial Assembly where a session of the East Bengal Legislative Assembly was about to begin. The policemen on duty tried to disperse the students by firing blanks. When this failed, the police fired into the crowd. In the firing abul barkat, a university student, rafiq uddin ahmed, a student of Debendra College, manikganj, and abdul jabbar, a young farmer from gaffargaon, were killed. abdus salam, a bank employee, was injured in the firing and died in hospital later. At least two others are also believed to have been killed in the firing that day. The reaction to the police killings was immediate. People began to gather on the premises of Dhaka Medical College Hospital. All over the country, schools and colleges held protest meetings, rallies and processions. To bring the situation under control, the government enforced a curfew and deployed the army in Dhaka. Defying the curfew, on 22 February, students alongside common people came out on city streets to protest the killings. They participated in a gayebi janaza (funeral prayer held without the
Posted on: Tue, 21 Oct 2014 01:06:55 +0000
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