The student community,  has been observing the Day every year for the last 11 years.

The “Shaheed Minar” was inaugurated this morning by the 72-year-old Mrs Hasina Begum, mother of Abul Barkat, a martyr of the 1952 Language Movement. A public meeting was held at the foot of the newly constructed Minar where former Chief Minister Ataur Rahman Khan and students’ representatives spoke. The students, in their speeches, declared that the Shaheed Day was not only a day for remembering the martyrs but it was the day which marked the beginning of the struggle for establishing democracy.

Mr Ataur Rahman Khan said the Language Movement inaugurated the struggle for democracy. He paid tribute to the martyrs of the Movement and said that they had proved, by their extreme sacrifices, that the people of East Pakistan did not forget the fact that without bloodshed and struggle, no demand had been realised.—Staff Correspondent