Bangladeshis are asking the Seoul government for permission to build a shrine at which to honor martyrs who fought to save their mother tongue.

The South Asian country’s ambassador, Shahidul Islam, has contacted the Seoul mayor requesting a site for a language martyr’s mausoleum, called a Shahid Minar in Bangla.

The Bangladeshi community here wishes to have a structure before which to lay flowers and remember the people who died fighting to save their language.
People in what is now Bangladesh were forced to speak Urdu when the country became East Pakistan after the Indian subcontinent gained independence from British colonial rule in 1947. Bengali people started a mass protest against the imposition of the foreign tongue, known as the Language Movement. But police killed many young people at a peaceful protest rally in the city of Dhaka on Feb. 21 1952. The Bangla-speaking population eventually established an independent Bangladesh in 1971.

There are 38 different languages in present-day Bangladesh but Bangla, called Bengali in English, is the most widely spoken as it is used by an estimated 98 percent of the population. 

“Many young people of Bangladesh sacrificed their lives on the streets of Dhaka to protest against imposition of the foreign language Urdu in the name of bringing linguistic uniformity by the then rulers of Pakistan,” said Islam.

“Every year on this day the people of Bangladesh walk barefoot to lay floral wreathes at the language mausoleum.

“Currently, there are about 14,000 Bangladeshi nationals living in Korea and they would be happy to establish a language mausoleum in Seoul to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the sacrifice by the language martyrs,” he said.

Islam said that the Seoul city government was considering the request for a site, which he suggested could be located near the river Han.

UNESCO declared Feb. 21 International Mother Language Day in 1999.

Bangla is now spoken by almost 300 million people in Bangladesh and India. Members of the Bangladeshi community estimate that about 100 Korean women also speak it here after marrying Bangladeshi men.

An event at the Bangladeshi Embassy on Tuesday saw Bangladeshis come together to sing and speak in their native tongue.

“Both the people of Korea and the people of Bangladesh had to fight to protect their mother language. The Korean people fought hard to safeguard the Korean language under the oppression of the Japanese colonial rule,” said Islam.

“Similarly, the Bangladeshi people also had to fight against the Pakistani domination and oppression to safeguard their language Bangla.”

The Bangladeshi Embassy is also launching a Bangla school to help the nation’s children living here retain their native language skills. The class taught by the ambassador’s wife, Jesmeen Islam, will teach the children the basics of the language from 3 p.m. every Saturday.

By Kirsty Taylor (kirstyt@heraldcorp.com)