DHAKA -- Bangladesh observed International Mother Language Day on Monday paying tributes to the language movement martyears, who sacrificed their lives for establishing Bangla as a state language of Pakistan 59 years ago.

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President Zillur Raman and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina laid wreaths at the Central Shaheed Minar (language martyears memorial) in capital Dhaka one minute past midnight in the early morning of Monday. They stood in solemn silence for some time and paid their homage to the language heroes.

The Central Shaheed Minar and its adjacent areas have had a facelift on the occasion, and roads and medians have been festooned with Bangla alphabets and the national flag.

Many law enforcers including police and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) have been deployed in strategic points of Dhaka. A number of close circuit cameras have also been set up at the Shaheed Minar area.

On this day in 1952, police opened fire on a procession of Dhaka University students who demanded that Bangla must be the one of the state languages of the then Pakistan. Several students were killed,forcing the Pakistani government to recognize Bangla as one of the state languages of Pakistan.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization(UNESCO) declared February 21 the International Mother Language Day on November 17, 1999 to honor the supreme sacrifice of language martyears.