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Lives of language martyrs still little known to people

Textbooks do not have their biographies

DURDANA GHIAS
More than half a century after the historic Language Movement, the lives and works of the martyrs who made supreme sacrifice for the mother tongue are still almost unknown to people as hardly any research has been done on this subject.
According to researchers, the exact number of the Language Movement martyrs could not be known yet.
The Language Movement veterans and people involved in research on the movement said the school textbooks also contain very little about the lives of the martyrs and others who contributed to the movement
“From my school textbooks I came to know about the names of the language martyrs. Other than that I know nothing about them," said Mamun, a banker.
“According to the textbooks there were processions and the police opened fire, killing some people. But it is not clear how did it happen,” he said.
Monima Siddika, a lecturer of accounting at Daffodil University, said: “I have learnt very little about the movement and the martyrs from my text-
books. To know about them I had to seek other sources like newspaper articles but will all children do the same like me?"
“Textbooks should contain more about the movement," she added.
MR Mahbub, director,
Bhasha Andolon Museum, said: “We should include more about the Language Movement and the martyrs in the textbooks. It is our misfortune that we can glean so little about them from the textbooks.”
About little research on the subject, he said, “Why we have
to say there are some 'unknown martyrs'? Why could not we find them out?”
“We could not know the exact number of the Language Movement martyrs because many of the bodies were hauled away by the police. We managed to know only five
names -- Abul Barkat, Abdus Salam, Md Rafiquddin, Shafiur Rahman and Abdul Jabbar,” Mahbub said.
"Last year we came to know about another martyr, a- little boy of eight, named Ohiullah. He was studying in class three. His body was taken by the police from the spot. His grave however could not be traced,” he added.
"Many bodies of the victims were taken away from the Dhaka Medical College morgue at the dead of night and buried at the Azimpur graveyard. But only three graves were identified,” he said.
He said that in some cases even the photos of the martyrs could not be collected. "The picture of martyr Salam was painted by sculptor Rasha. Artist Shyamol Biswas painted the picture of Ohiullah based on facial description provided by our museum.”
Prof Dr Mirza Mazharul Islam, a language veteran and chief consultant of surgery, Birdem, said the responsibility of including more about Language Movement and martyrs lies with the government.
"The significance of the Language Movement is no less than that of the Liberation War. I would rather call it language war where we all were soldiers. We had an enemy and we had to fight the opponents. This language war bore the seed of the Liberation War,” he said.
"I want proper respect to be bestowed on the martyrs. The first step of honouring them can be including the biographies of the Language Movement martyrs in the school textbooks,” said Prof Islam.
"I want to know more about the lives of the language martyrs in the textbooks like those of Birsresthos," said Sadia Hossain Adrita, studying at the Viqarunnessa Noon School.
Admitting inadequate information on the language martyrs in the textbooks Prof Dr Md Masiruddin, chairman, NCTB, said that any individual can write to him regarding the issue.
“If any individual feels like there is anything important left in the textbooks he can apply to me pointing out reasons. The application will be forwarded to the members of the curriculum committee. Then it will be forwarded to the NCCC [Na-tional Curriculum Coordination Committee] which will evaluate the application," he said.