The nation will pay homage to the martyrs of the language movement of 1952 a minute after midnight past today by placing wreaths at Shaheed Minars across the country in beefed up security amid a protracted transport blockade enforced by the opposition alliance.
The Central Shaheed Minar has been well decorated for the observance of Shaheed Dibas, or February 21, which has also been observed simultaneously as International Mother Language Day since 2000 after UNESCO announced the decision in November 1999.
People from all walks of life will place wreaths at Shaheed Minars singing the chorus ‘Amar Bhaiyer Rakte Rangano Ekushey February, Ami ki Bhulite Pari’, stand in solemn silence for a while and file past the altar in honour of Salam, Barkat, Rafiq and Jabbar and other unnamed martyrs who were killed in police firing on this day in 1952 when they rallied for the recognition of Bangla as a state language of Pakistan. The events of the language movement led to other landmark movements, including the historic Six-point Movement of 1966, and culminated into the War of Independence in 1971.
President Abdul Hamid and the prime minister Sheikh Hasina are expected to place wreaths at the Central Shaheed Minar in Dhaka a minute past midnight. The visiting West Bengal chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, is also expected to pay tributes to the language martyrs in the first hour of the day.
The speaker, lawmakers and representative groups of the ruling Awami League will place wreaths later.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson Khaleda Zia’s visiting the Shaheed Minar to pay tribute was uncertain, said her office sources. Khaleda Zia has been staying in her office since January 3 amid heavy police guard. She decided to stay put at the office after being confined there by the law enforcers until January 18.
Language movement heroes, foreign diplomats, chiefs of the three services and leaders of other political parties will place wreaths at the Shaheed Minar.
Political, social, cultural, academic and professional bodies and individuals will also pay homage to the martyrs at the memorial. Different organisations will hold programmes marking the day.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner Asaduzzman Mia at a press briefing on Thursday said the police had planned special security for the Central Shaheed Minar and in its vicinity for the observance of Amar Ekushey.
Bomb disposal squads, police personnel in plain clothes, special weapons and tactics personnel, patrol and roof-top security will be deployed to maintain law and order around the Central Shaheed Minar, the police said.
The Special Security Force will be keeping watch on all security arrangements for the Central Shaheed Minar as the main programme will be observed there with the president, the prime minister and other state dignitaries attending.
The police will set up checkpoints in different strategic places, including all entry points to the campuses of Dhaka University and Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, and Dhaka Medical College Hospital premises. Closed-circuit television cameras will also be installed.
The city police detailed a route map prepared by the Central Ekushey Observance Coordination Committee, for the people and traffic on the occasion covering about three square kilometres from the Shaheed Minar.
Traffic will not be allowed on roads passing by the Shaheed Minar between 7:00pm Friday and 2:00pm Sunday except for vehicles with authorised stickers.
Residents of Nazimuddin Road, Babupura and College Road have been asked to use Dewanbazar Road, Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue, Nilkhet and New Market Gate 1 on their way to the Azimpur graveyard, the officials said.
People coming from Lalbagh, Azimpur, Plassey crossing, Chawkbazar, Bakshibazar, Urdu Road and Dhakeswari Road area will have to travel through the new gate of the graveyard beside Gate 1 of New Market via Azimpur Road, New Market crossing and Peelkhana Road.
People will have to go by the roads in front of Sir Salimullah Hall, Jagannath Hall, Supreme Court building, Doyel Square, Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue, TSC crossing, Nilkhet crossing, New Market, Old Railway Road, Azimpur Road, Azimpur crossing and Palassy to visit the Shaheed Minar. The police have asked people not to set up any awning on the roads.
Source: New Age
