The vandalism of Shaheed Minar in Cumilla on the night of February 21 has sparked nationwide outrage and protests on social media, including Facebook. The upazila administration and college authorities have formed two separate investigation committees in this regard.

The incident took place at the Gunabati Degree College campus in Gunabati Union of Chauddagram Upazila of the district. On receiving the news, police, army and upazila administration officials visited the scene on Friday. Chauddagram Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Md. Jamal Hossain arrived at the scene at noon. During this time, he spoke to the college authorities and locals.

In the afternoon, the UNO said that the demolition of Shaheed Minar is a very sensitive issue. We are looking into the matter with utmost importance. A 3-member committee headed by Upazila Agriculture Officer Jobayer Ahmed has been formed to investigate the incident. The other two members of the committee are Upazila Engineer Md. Nuruzzaman and Upazila Secondary Education Officer AKM Mir Hossain. The committee has been asked to submit a report within the next 3 working days.

On the other hand, another separate investigation committee has been formed by the college. The general secretary of the college's teachers' council and assistant professor Sarwar Osman have been made the head of the committee and two other college teachers have been made members of the committee. The committee has been asked to submit a report within the next 7 days.

Earlier, in the early hours of February 21, college teachers, students and local BNP leaders and activists paid tribute to the martyrs at the Shaheed Minar on the college premises. Everyone left the campus at around 1:45 am. Later, miscreants vandalized the Shaheed Minar late at night.

Acting principal of the college Md. Abdul Latif said that the Shaheed Minar of the college was established in 1968. It was quite risky. However, it was not supposed to fall down like this if no one had broken it. Quoting the college's night watchman Shamsul Alam, the principal also said that the night watchman went to the Shaheed Minar premises after hearing a loud noise at around 2 am. When he went there, he saw that two of the three pillars of the Shaheed Minar had been broken and crushed.

Hilal Uddin, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Chauddagram Police Station, said that the college has filed a general diary (DG) with the police station regarding the incident. As there is no CCTV camera on the college campus, it is not possible to provide any information about those involved in the incident right now. However, it is believed that only local people may be involved in the incident. Those involved will be identified and brought to justice.

Shah Mohammad Alamgir, President of Sushaner Jonnya Nagraik (Sujon) Cumilla, said that such outrage towards the Shaheed Minar on Shaheed Dibash is unacceptable, and I hope that the law enforcement agencies will quickly identify those involved and provide the maximum punishment. If the criminals are spared, such incidents will continue to happen.

Police have recovered three bullet-riddled bodies in Shailkupa, Jhenaidah. Police believe that the three people were shot dead by miscreants. The incident took place at around 8 pm on Friday (February 21) in the Ramchandrapur Tribeni crematorium canal area of the upazila. It is learnt that all three deceased were associated with a terrorist group.

Immediately after the incident, a text message from an anonymous number reached media personnel. There, the sender of the text message claimed to be Kalu, the leader of the 'Jsd Gano Bahini', and claimed responsibility for the killing of the three. However, it could not be confirmed whether the sender of the text message was actually Kalu.

The identities of two of the three deceased have been found. They are Abu Hanif alias Hanif Ali (56) of Ahadnagar village in Harinakundu upazila of Jhenaidah and his brother-in-law Liton Hossain (35) of Srirampur village. Among them, Hanif is the regional leader of the East Bengal Communist Party (Janajuddha). It is initially known that the other two deceased were associated with the terrorist group.

The statement sent by the terrorist leader Kalu, in the form of a text message, said, "This is to inform the residents of Jhenaidah, Chuadanga, Magura, Kushtia, Jashore, Khulna that Hanif, a resident of Harinakundu, accused of numerous murders, disappearances, encroachments, robberies, and rapes, was killed by members of the Jsd Gano Bahini along with his two associates." Hanif's associates in this area have been ordered to rectify themselves; otherwise you will face the same fate.'

Local resident Masud Rana said that at around 8:30 pm, the locals heard three to four gunshots. After that, no one came out of their houses out of fear. Panic spread throughout the area. A few hours later, at around 11:30 pm, the locals gathered and went to the spot and saw three bodies and two motorcycles lying there. They then informed the police.

Matiar Rahman of Ramchandrapur Police Camp in Shailkupa Upazila said that the locals heard gunshots at night and informed the police. When they reached the spot, the bodies of three people were found lying there. All three had been shot in the head.

Shailkupa Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Masum Khan confirmed the incident and said, "We reached the spot after receiving the news and found three bodies. Looking at the bodies, it seems that they were shot dead. One of them is named Hanif. He was a leader of the East Bengal Communist Party. The other is Hanif's brother-in-law Liton. However, the identity of the other one has not been found yet.

The OC also said that two black Pulsar motorcycles, a magazine and bullets were found at the scene. The reason for the incident cannot be said before the investigation.

Police and locals said that for a long time, there has been a dispute between two extremist parties, the Purba Bangla Communist Party (Janajuddha) and the Jsd Gano Bahini, over the dominance of Kushtia, Jhenaidah and Chuadanga. On Friday night, the opponents received news of a secret meeting of Purba Bangla Communist Party leaders in the Ramchandrapur crematorium area. There are various cases against the deceased Hanif, including at least 13 murders. Five people were killed at the same place on December 5, 2003.

The deceased Hanif was a death row convict. He was sentenced to death in the murder case of Abdur Rahman of Kulbaria village in Harinakundu upazila. Although the death sentence was upheld by the High Court, Hanif returned to the area with a special pardon from former President Abdul Hamid.

The chief adviser to the interim government, Dr. Muhammad Yunus, has said that there is no basis for the idea that learning a new language will weaken the old one. In many countries of the world, it is assumed that the same citizen will speak several languages fluently. They get used to different languages from childhood. Every student is made compulsory to learn at least one different language while studying in school. Students also do it with joy. It does not occur to any of them to think that learning English will mean forgetting Bengali.

He said that we had to sacrifice a lot to get Bengali recognized as the state language. Such an incident of giving life for the mother tongue is unprecedented in the history of the world. The foundation stone of the International Mother Language Institute was laid in Dhaka on March 15, 2001 with the motivation to protect the spirit and dignity of the mother tongue among all ethnic groups, regardless of race and religion, and with this spirit and institutionalization. The International Mother Language Institute started its journey with the aim of preserving, developing and researching the history of all mother languages of the world.

He said these things at the inauguration of a four-day program on the occasion of the Great Martyr's Day and International Mother Language Day at the International Mother Language Institute on Friday (February 21) afternoon. Emeritus Professor Sirajul Islam Chowdhury presided over the program.

He said, I congratulate those who received medals today. I also congratulate those who received awards in the Olympiad to inspire others. The importance of the language movement in the history of the nation's liberation struggle is immense. Through this movement, the foundation was laid for the formation of a non-communal, democratic, language-based nation and state system.

Dr. Yunus said, although the 'Rashtrabhasha Bangla' movement was launched to protect the dignity of Bengalis' mother language, Bengali, its main spirit was to establish independence. It was a movement for the political, economic and cultural liberation of Bengal, so for Bengalis, Ekushey means a firm determination not to bow down. Ekushey February 21, 1952, is not just a day of shedding tears remembering the painful past, but also an indestructible inspiration, a seed mantra to stand against all kinds of injustice, injustice and conspiracies.

‘Mother language is the carrier of the history, economy and culture of any ethnic group. The soul of all people is related to the mother language. No matter how many languages a person acquires after the mother language, no matter how much proficiency they acquire in those new languages, they cannot remove the mother language from the depths of their hearts.’

The Chief Adviser said that in almost all countries of the world, some people of different languages or a handful of countries accept citizenship and live for several generations. The language of the new country becomes a 24-hour language in their daily lives, but that language does not become the mother language. As soon as they unite among themselves, they enthusiastically return to their original language, creating a cultural environment of their original language without even realizing it.

Dr. Yunus said that in cities where the number of their native speakers is large, the mayors of the cities are easily elected by the majority in the city council. They establish their native language in their cities without hesitation. They conduct daily government work in their native language, and the police who speak their language maintain law and order in the city. However, as soon as they leave the city limits, they return to their new language fluently. There is no resentment in the minds of the old citizens towards the new citizens of the city.

‘We are creating a new world at a rapid pace. New technologies are mainly responsible for this. With the dominance of technology comes the dominance of language. The language of the country whose technology continues to gain dominance in the world will continue to gain dominance along with the language of the country that provides the technology. The whole world will rush to learn this language.’

Dr. Yunus said, when Sputnik flew into space, the whole world jumped to learn Russian. Schools and universities where Russian is not taught lost the enthusiasm of students and parents. As soon as China came forward in technology, there was a boom in learning Chinese. The country that leads the world will gravitate towards the language of that country – this is the rule. The world will not be interested in the language of a country that has nothing to offer, or if it does, it will be at a low level. If a nation can lead in any aspect apart from technology, people's interest in that country's language will increase – no matter how complex that language is. As a nation progresses, the language progresses. Respect for the language increases. Despite being dedicated activists of its own language, if the nation does not have anything to offer to the world's treasury, it will not be possible to create interest in the language. ‘Literature, technology, science – are directly related to creating interest in language. When we speak in our mother tongue, let us remember that the mother tongue is the primary language of the people. No matter how harsh that language may seem at first hearing, it can one day transcend its primary stage and become a highly respected language of many people in many countries. If that language can occupy a strategic or tactical role in the progress of the world.’ He said, Today, on Mother Language Day, we have pledged to preserve all mother languages. There are emotional reasons, there are also reasons of great interest. Now we do not know which unknown nameless mother language will completely change the world. If we ignore any possibility, we will make a big mistake. Today, on World Mother Language Day, I wish the International Mother Language Institute all the success.

Mymensingh: On the first hour of International Mother Language and Shaheed Dibash, the people of Gafargaon paid their deepest respect to Abdul Jabbar and all the martyrs. The Shaheed Minar of Memory was awakened by the heartfelt touch of thousands of people in Panchua (Jabbar Nagar), Gafargaon, the village home of language martyr Abdul Jabbar.

In the first hour of Ekushey, 6 km from the upazila headquarters, the central Shaheed Minar area of the upazila adjacent to the house of the language martyr was filled to the brim before midnight.

Fair in connection with Shaheed Dibash

The fair is being held next to the Abdul Jabbar Library and Memorial Museum. At 12:01 am, at the Shaheed Minar of the Language Martyr Abdul Jabbar and Library Memorial Museum premises, Upazila Nirbahi Officer Rubaiya Yasmin and Assistant Commissioner (Land) Amir Salman Rony first placed wreaths at the Shaheed Bedi on behalf of the upazila administration. Later, Additional Superintendent of Police (Gafargaon Circle) Afroza Nazneen, Gafargaon Police Station OC Muhammad Shibirul Islam, Pagla Police Station OC Mohammad Ferdous Alam, Upazila BNP, Jamaat and allied organizations, then Gafargaon Municipality, Gafargaon Press Club, Gangchil Association, various government and private organizations, schools and colleges, literary and cultural and voluntary organizations and thousands of people from all walks of life placed wreaths. On this occasion, a day-long discussion meeting, cultural programs and various product fairs were held in Jabbar Nagar and the Book House Gafargaon Book Fair was organized. Lakhs of people from various unions including the Upazila headquarters and several hundred vehicles arrived at the house of Language Martyr Abdul Jabbar. The fair is being held next to the Language Martyr Abdul Jabbar Library and Memorial Museum. The fair includes various types of rural food including nagordola, nimki, jilapi, manda, mithai, binni and khai. There are clay banks, horses, pots and pans, and clay dolls. To celebrate the day with due dignity, the Upazila administration has organized a discussion meeting and cultural program in the premises of the Language Martyr Abdul Jabbar Memorial Library and Museum.