PM for secular country free of war criminals

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with recipients of the “Ekushey Padak 2013” in Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the capital yesterday.Photo: STAR

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday urged the people to build a knowledge-based, prosperous, peaceful and secular country free of war criminals and razakars, keeping in mind the indomitable spirit of the Language Movement.
She made the appeal while distributing the "Ekushey Padak 2013" among 13 recipients at Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the capital.
The recipients of Ekushey Padak 2013: MA Wadud (posthumous), Prof Ajit Kumar Guha (posthumous), Principal M Quamruzzaman (posthumous) and Tofazzal Hossain for the Language Movement; Enamul Haque Mostafa Shahid for the Liberation War; Nurjahan Murshid (posthumous) and Samson H Chowdhury (posthumous) for social services; Rafiq Azad and Asad Chowdhury for language and literature; Kaderi Kibria, Jamaluddin Hossain, Bijoy Krishna Adhikari (posthumous) and Bangladesh Udichi Shilpi Goshti for art and culture.
Hasina said Ekushey February has become the symbol of Bangalee nationalism, secularism and non-communal spirit, and called upon all to remain conscious in upholding the spirit of immortal Ekushey.
“Those who deny the spirit of the Language Movement and Liberation War are the enemies of immortal Ekushey and independence,” she added.
Hasina said with the initiatives of some expatriate Bangladeshis living in Canada and all out support of her government, the Unesco declared Ekushey (21st February) as the International Mother Language Day, which facilitated the rights of mother tongue of all small ethnic groups in 193 UN member countries across the world.
Recalling the invaluable contribution of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the Language Movement, she said in 1974, Bangabandhu first delivered his speech in the UN General Assembly in Bangla to portray Bangla language and culture to the international community.