Staff Reporter :Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday handed Ekushey Padak-2016 to 16 eminent persons in recognition of their outstanding contributions to their respective fields.The Padak distribution ceremony was held at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the city.The recipients are: Justice Kazi Ebadul Haque, Dr Sayed Haider, late Syed Golam Kibria (posthumous) and Dr Jashimuddin Ahmed for their contribution to the 1952 Language Movement; Begum Jahanara Ahmed (Actress – television and film), Pandit Amaresh Roy Chowdhury (classical music), Begum Shaheen Samad (Music), Amanul Haque (dances), late Kazi Anwar Hossain in (painting) (posthumous), Mafidul Haque for contribution to the 1971 Liberation War and Toab Khan in journalism.The recipients also include Prof Dr ABM Abdullah in research, Mongsen Ching Monsin (research), Joityprakash Dutta (language and literature), Prof Dr Hayat Mahmud (language and literature) and Habibullah Siraji (language and literature). Every piece of Ekushey Padak has 35 grams of gold, a citation and a cheque of Tk two lakh each.Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam conducted the function and read out the citations of the awardees at the function held with Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor in the chair.While addressing the ceremony, Sheikh Hasina urged all to protect the country’s mother tongue, achieved by the language heroes.”We are proud that Bengali is our mother tongue. We should respect our language and protect it. We are happy that we can honour the respectable persons of our society on the language day,” she said.Sheikh Hasina also said, “Pakistan, a country from 12 hundred miles away of Bangladesh. They wanted to impose Urdu on us as our State Language forcibly. But then Dhaka University students did not accept it. They foiled the Pakistani conspiracy by raising their strong voice and movements.””Ekush gave us self-identity, it taught us self-esteem and not to bestow our heads to any evil forces,” she added. “We won all achievements through blood and movements,” she added.
