A seminar on 'the Shaheed Dibos and the International Mother Language Day' will be held in London, the UK, at 1:45pm (London time) today.
"An International seminar on 'Language as a Launch-pad of Liberation:
Emergence of Bangladesh' will be held at 35-47 Bethnal Green Road in London on Monday, marking the 70th anniversary of the martyrdom of students at Dhaka University," said a press release of Ray Events, organizer of the seminar, here today.
Eminent economist of Bangladesh Professor Rehman Sobhan, Indian Ambassador and author of the book 'India and Bangladesh Liberation War' Chandrashekhar
Dasgupta, Mark Tully of BBC, who covered the 1971 War, Bangladesh High Commissioner to UK Saida Muna Tasneem and Pakistani academic at SOAS Dr Ayesha Siddiqa will take part in the seminar as panel speakers.
The seminar will be held maintaining the social distancing strictly. On February 21 in 1952, Salam, Rafique, Shafique, Jabbar and Barkat
embraced martyrdom in police firing in front of the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) as they took to the street to intensify the campaign to
establish Bangla as the state language of the then Pakistan, sowing the seeds of subsequent movements for the country's independence.
They were killed as police opened fire on students, demonstrating under the All-Party Students Action Committee against conspiracies of Pakistani
rulers to declare "Urdu" as the only state language.
The movement for Bangla, however, did not stop and Pakistan government on February 29, 1956 was compelled to recognise Bangla as one of the state languages besides Urdu.
The decision, however, could not stop the movement against repression and misrule of Pakistani government that subsequently led the Bangalee to the War of Independence and the emergence of Bangladesh.
Every year, the day is observed in Bangladesh as 'the Shaheed Dibos and the International Mother Language Day'. It is also observed around the world
as the UNESCO recognised the 'February 21 (Ekushey February)' as the International Mother Language Day on November 17, 1999.
