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Star Report
Tamuddun Majlis s Mure to lead the Language Movement after IU initial positive role owed much . to Its lopsided Ideological position from which It approached the question of language
While the Majlis was ideo logically committed to propagating Islam as the basis of the Bengalee people's cultural identity. time proved that once the issue of the mother tongue came to the forefront, the people's inherent nationalist feelings based on language, literature. folklore ete- triumphed over communal dtvl
The Majlis. in other words, tried to ride on two boat* pulling In opposite directions at the same time, fell through the middle and disappeared without a trace.
In their jointly-authored book The History and Significance of the Language Movement'. Abdul Matin who was the convener of the University State Language Action Committee (USLAC) In 1962. and Ahmed Rafiq. argued that the Majlis put undue
From page 1 Col 8 faith In Pakistani leader Muhammad All Jinnah and eventually spent more time attacking the progressive forces than strengthening the Language Movement.
Majlis leader Abul Kasem wrote in March 1948 that if only they could get the chance to present their demands to their "Quaid-I-Azam" personally. then they would be able to convince him that "Muslim League organisations were really the Initiators of ihc movement and its main objective was to strengthen Pakistan, not weaken It".
Kasem got his "chance" to meet Jinnah on March 24. but the man from Karachi left Dhaka repeating that only Urdu should be the state language of Pakistan!
Matin and Ahmed explained the Majlis's failure to take the movement seriously even after Jinnah s intransigence:
"All Tamuddun-following BengaH-lovei‘8 quietly accepted Jinnah's undemocratic and audacious comments, and failed to utter a single word of protest, because a languagebased state was not what they wanted. That Is ,why they did not come forward with a minimum of activity In support of the movement".
Not surprisingly then, when the movement regained steam In February 1952 after nearly four years of smouldering It was the more nationalist forces, such as the militant student community of the uni-
versity. medical college, engineering college etc. the Awaml Muslim League, the Communist Parly, the Jubo League which began to play the decisive role.
Signs that things were moving towards a confrontation. in which the -less radical elements In the All-Party Stale Language Action Committee (AI’SLAC) such as the Awaml league East Pakistan Muslim Chhatra League. Tamuddun Majlis etc were to be swept aside by the militant students, came on February 18. 1952.
According to Badruddin Umar. "East Bengal's Language Movement." a young Civil Service of Pakistan (CSP) officer named S H Qorclshi was made the magistrate of Dhaka in place of the elderly and more sober Halder, at the In struction of East Pakistan chief secretary Aziz Ahmed.
According to Umar, the then provincial secretary of the Muslim League. Mohan Mlah regarded Qorclshi as a hotheaded officer who could not work tactfully In times of crisis.
Mohan Mlah claimed to have warned chief minister Nurul Amin of the danger of making such a "tactless" officer magistrate of Dhaka with the general strike of Feb 21 only three days away.
Nurul Amin was unable or unwilling to reverse the decision taken by Aziz Ahmed, a non-Bengall who enjoyed the trust of Karachi.