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Salute to language heroes

Staff Correspondent
Today is Amar Ekushey. The country will observe the 62nd Language Martyrs' Day through various programmes.
In the first hour, President Abdul Hamid led the nation in paying tributes to those who laid down their lives for recognition of Bangla as the state language on this day 62 years ago.
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The day is also observed as International Mother Language Day worldwide. The February 21 anthem Amar Bhaier Rokte Rangano Ekushe February would be sung in 193 countries.
The president placed wreaths at the Central Shaheed Minar in the capital at 12:01am. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina followed him a few moments later.
They stood there in silence for a minute in honour of the language heroes.
Hasina, also president of the ruling Awami League, placed wreaths along with her cabinet and party colleagues. She was followed by the speaker and deputy speaker of parliament, the ruling party chief whip and leaders of the ruling 14-party alliance.
After them, opposition leader in parliament Rawshan Ershad led her party leaders to pay tribute to the martyrs.
After her, the chiefs of the three services, the attorney general, diplomats, Dhaka University Teachers Association, Sector Commanders Forum, wounded freedom fighters, other political parties and their wings paid homage to the martyrs.
The Central Shaheed Minar and its adjacent areas on Dhaka University campus wore a different look with street paintings and graffiti with Bangla alphabets on the walls.
Thousands of people from all walks of life and ages walked barefoot to the Shaheed Minar to pay tribute to the Language Movement heroes.
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia along with her party leaders placed wreaths at the Central Shaheed Minar at 1:03am.
Maruf Kamal Khan, press secretary to the BNP chief, however, claimed that the law enforcers had earlier delayed Khaleda's start from her Gulshan residence to Shaheed Minar.
He told The Daily Star that the BNP chairperson took all preparations to go to Shaheed Minar at 11:45pm, but the police asked her to start after sometime.
Foolproof multi-layer security measures were taken in and around the Central Shaheed Minar.
Millions of barefooted people from all walks of life converged at shaheed minars across the country to pay homage to the martyrs.
On this day in 1952, students and
people from all strata of society took to the streets in Dhaka to protest the then Pakistan government's refusal to recognise Bangla as one of the state languages and its attempt to impose Urdu as the only official language of Pakistan.
Salam, Barkat, Rafiq, Shafiur, Jabbar and a few other brave sons of the soil sacrificed their lives to establish Bangla as a state language of the then Pakistan.
The day of February 21 has since been observed as the Language Martyrs Day and the Unesco in November 1999 declared it as the International Mother Language Day.
Countries across the globe on this day vow to promote linguistic diversity and multilingual education and raise awareness of cultural traditions based on understanding, tolerance and dialogue.
The Language Movement is considered as the most decisive episode and a turning point in the history of Bangalees as its spirit led to the independence of Bangladesh.
The day is a public holiday. The national flag will fly at half-mast at all government, autonomous and private buildings.