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The International Mother Language Day will be observed throughout the world today (Tuesday) to recognise the Bengali nation's sublime sacrifice for the cause of their mother tongue as well as to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism, reports UNB.
UNESCO declared February 21 as the International Mother Language Day to be observed globally in recognition of the sacrifices of the Bengali language martyrs who laid down their lives in 1952 for establishing Bangla as a state language in the erstwhile Pakistan.
The proclamation came in the form of a resolution unanimously adopted at the plenary of the United Nations (UN) agency at its headquarters in Paris in November 1999.
The historic February 21 has, thus, assumed new dimensions. The sacrifices of Rafiq, Salam, Jabbar, Barkat, Shafiur and other martyrs as well as of those tortured and repressed by the then authoritarian regime of Pakistan for championing the cause of their mother tongue have now received a glorious and new recognition.
Countries who gave support to the proposal of the then government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for declaring February 21 as the International Mother Language Day are Benin, Bahama, Belarus, Comoros, Chili, Dominic Republic, Egypt, Gambia, Honduras, Italy, Iran, Micronesia, Oman, The Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Pakistan, Paraguay, Russian Federation, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, Surinam, Slovakia, Vanuatu, Indonesia, India, Ivory Coast, Lithuania and Malaysia.
In its resolution the UNESCO said, "February 21 be proclaimed International Mother Language Day throughout the world to commemorate the martyrs who sacrificed their lives on this very day in 1952."
It is a great tribute and glowing homage paid by the international community to the language martyrs of Bangladesh.
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