It was at Amtola that a most crucial and daunting decision was made: To defy Seaion 144 imposed by the Pakistani junta and bring out a procession on February 21, 1952, sparking what years later would culminate in the struggle for liberation.

Throughout his life, Abdul Matin frequented Amtola, a place synonymous with the Language Movement and many other progressive and democratic movements.

And it is there that the language hero's body was brought for one last time yesterday.

It is at Amtola, where Dhaka Medical College Hospital is located, that police opened fire on the fateful February day on protestors who took to the streets, demanding Bangla be made a state language of Pakistan.

Matin, also known as "Bhasha" (language) Matin, was among those who decided to defy Section 144 at a gathering at Amtola, then part of the Dhaka University campus.

The brutal killings on February 21 and those in the subsequent days injeaed vigour to the movement that eventually compelled the Pakistani ruler to meet the demand.

The movement catalysed the assertion of Bangalee identity and became a forerunner to all Bangalee nationalist movements and finally the Liberation War in 1971 that gave birth to the country that is Bangladesh.

From Amtola, Matin's body was taken to the Shaheed Minar, which was built in the memory of those killed on

FROM PAGE 20

February 21.

As the ambulance adorned with flowers carried his remains, people from all walks of life lined up to pay their tributes.

Aged 88, the leftist leader died on Wednesday morning, bringing an end to an illustrious career that inspired hundreds of thousands in building a right-based society.

Ministers, politicians and cultural activists started rushing there since morning. Even before the body arrived, people started writing notes in the four condolence books kept beside the makeshift stage. Different political and socio-cultural organisations also paid rich tributes to the language hero.

Matin's wife Gulbadan Nesa Monika, their two daughters and other family members were present.

“Matin means Bangla Language....As long as the Bangla language and the Bangalee nation survive, Matin will live on,” SM Yunus wrote in his condolence note.

These simple words of Yunus, a schoolteacher, echoed the emotion of hundreds of mourners.

Prof Anisuzzaman said Matin would always be remembered as a key organiser of the All-party State Language Movement Committee that led the Language Movement.

The Dhaka University professor emeritus, however, regretted that Matin's lifelong dream of a discrimination-free society was yet to be realised and that the country failed to ensure the use of Bangla in all spheres of life.

Language Movement veteran Rawshan Ara Bachchu said, "You won't get such a devoted person. He risked his life to establish the right to speak in mother tongue."

"He was like a roof over the head which is no more,” Matin's younger daughter Maliha Suvan said.

People were the core interest and the driving force of his life and his straggle will be meaningful if his followers and well-wishers upheld his ideology, she added.

And to bid farewell to their beloved comrade, hundreds of his political colleagues and followers sang "The Internationale," a widely sung leftwing anthem, and chanted slogans.

A minute's silence was observed in respect of her memory.

Gulbadan Nesa then handed Matin's body over to the authorities of Dhaka Medical College for medical research as per his last wish.

Matin donated his body and his eyes through a will in 2006 for the cause of humanity, and Sandhani, a voluntary organisation, collected his corneas immediately after his death.

Around 2:00pm, pallbearers carried his coffin to the ambulance, which took him to Dhaka Medical College.

Eminent educationist Serajul Islam Choudhury, Language Movement veteran Ahmed Rafique, Health Minister Mohammed Nasim, eminent jurists Rafique-ul Haque and M Amir-ul Islam, Sector Commander Maj Gen (retd) KM Safiullah, Communist Party President Mojahidul Islam Selim, Samakal Editor Golam Sarwar, Bangla Academy Director General Prof Shamsuzzaman Khan, former deputy Speaker Shawkat Ali, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid, eminent columnist Syed Abul Maksud, Dhaka University Vice-chancellor AAMS Arefin Siddique, former FBCCI president AK Azad, singer Fakir Alamgir, among others, paid their tributes.

STATE HONOUR

Mourners, however, expressed frustration as Matin was not given state honour at his funeral.

The tribute was arranged by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, where he had undergone treatment for 51 days. Sammilita Sangskritik Jote assisted the programme.

Rawshan Ara Bachchu said, "He was not given due honour....! regret this. We have become an ungrateful nation."

BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said the nation expected the state would give Matin the honour he deserved.

"But only the government can say why he wasn't [given the state honour], "he said.

Matin's political colleague and Chief Prosecutor of the International Crimes Tribunal Ghulam Arief Tipoo and former DU vice-chancellor Prof Emazuddin Ahmed also expressed disappointments over the matter.

Asked about this, Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor said, "I have no idea whether there are rules to give state honour to language veterans at funeral.

"But it does not matter....because the entire nation is paying tribute to him [Matin], Nothing could be more prestigious than this."

Under the rules, only freedom fighters are entitled to state honour. Apart from them, sitting prime ministers and presidents also get this honour at funeral, said former cabinet secretary Ali Imam Majumdar.

"But the government can give this honour to anyone if it wants. And, considering his contribution to the Language Movement, he [Matin] should have been given this honour," he added.