Dhaka: Bangladesh High Commission in Islamabad has observed the Language Martyrs Day and International Mother Language Day with due solemnity and fervour.

Members of the expatriate Bangladesh community, officials and staff of the High Commission along with their families participated in the daylong programme arranged on the Chancery premises of the High Commission, reports UNB.

The Chancery premises were decorated with Martyrs’ Day posters and inscriptions of Bangla alphabet. The participants, in black-and-white attires, also wore black badges, according to a message received here from Islamabad on Wednesday.

In the morning, High Commissioner Tarik Ahsan ceremonially hoisted the national flag at half-mast in presence of all officials of the High Commission and some members of the expatriate Bangladesh community.

A special munajat was offered for the salvation and eternal peace of the souls of the language martyrs.

Singing ‘Amar bhaiyer rokte rangano Ekushye February, Ami ki bhulite pari’, the High Commissioner, officers and officials along with the Bangladeshis living in Islamabad placed wreaths at the altar of the make-shift Shaheed Minar on the Chancery premises to pay due respect to the language martyrs.

In the evening, a session of discussion-cum-cultural event was held at the Chancery to mark the day.

At the beginning, officials of the High Commission read out the messages of the President, the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister and the State Minister for Foreign Affairs issued on the occasion.

The High Commissioner paid rich tributes to the language martyrs and recalled with gratitude the participation by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and other activists of the progressive political parties and socio-cultural organisations in the language movement.

The cultural programme included the recitation of poetry, rendering of songs and performance of dance appropriate to the spirit of the day.

The officials of the High Commission, members of their family and guest artists took part in it.