20/02/2025
International Mother Language Day :
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
International Mother Language Day is observed annually on 21 February worldwide by UNESCO since 2000 to commemorate Bengali language movement & to promote awareness about linguistic & cultural diversity & multilingualism.
It was first announced by UNESCO on 17 November 1999.
Its observance was also formally recognized by the United Nations General Assembly in its resolution establishing 2008 as the International Year of Languages.
****************
The resolution was suggested by Rafiq-ul-Islam, a Bengali living in Vancouver, Canada. He wrote a letter to Kofi Annan on 9 January 1998 asking him to take a step for saving the world's languages from extinction by declaring an International Mother Language Day. Rafiq-ul-Islam proposed the date as 21 February to commemorate the killings in Dhaka during the Language Movement in 1952.
When Pakistan was created in 1947, it had two different parts : East Pakistan (currently known as Bangladesh) and West Pakistan (currently known as Pakistan). The two parts were also separated by India in between. The two parts were very different to each other in sense of culture, language, etc.
In 1948, the then Government of Pakistan declared Urdu to be the sole national language of Pakistan even though Bangla was spoken by the majority of people combining East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). The East Pakistan people protested, since the majority of the population was from East Pakistan & their mother language was Bangla. They demanded Bangla to be at least one of the national languages, in addition to Urdu.
To demolish the protest, the government of Pakistan outlawed public meeting & rallies. The students of the University of Dhaka, with the support of the general public, arranged massive rallies & meetings.
In 21st February 1952, police opened fire on rallies. Abdus Salam, Rafiquddin Ahmed, Abul Barkat and Abdul Jabbar died & hundreds of others injured. This is one of the very rare incidents in history, where people had to sacrifice their lives for their mother tongue.
As the news of the killings spread, disorder erupted across the city. Shops, offices & public transport were shut down & a general strike began.
The sacrifice of the martyrs was not wasted. After years of continuously growing protests, greater rallies, great other sacrifices by the Bangladeshis (then East Pakistanis), in 1956, the government was bound to grant official status to Bangla.
Since then Bangladeshis celebrate the International Mother Language Day as one of the tragic days. They go to Shahid Minar, a monument built to honor the martyrs, and express their deep sorrow & gratefulness to the martyrs.
***************
Theme for 2025 :
Silver Jubilee Celebration of International Mother Language Day.
It emphasizes on language preservation for safeguarding cultural heritage, improving education, & fostering more peaceful societies.
***************
Language is defined as the method or system of communication.
According to the Ethnologue, the number of known living languages varies from 6,000 to 7,000.
389 languages (nearly 6%) have more than a million speakers. These languages together account for 94% of the world's population, whereas 94% of the world's languages account for the remaining 6% of the global population.
World's 10 most spoken languages are Mandarin, Spanish, English, Portuguese, Arabic, Hindi, Bengali, Russian, Japanese & Javanese.
In India, there are 122 major languages & 1599 other languages & dialects.
**************
International Linguapax Award is awarded on this day.
This year this Award is presented to ADN Maya collective (Mexico).
