Dhaka, Feb. 21 -- Clad in mourning black and holding flowers for tribute, rows and rows of barefoot people have converged at Dhaka's Central Shaheed Minar to pay their respects to those martyrs who gave their lives for the recognition of Bengali as a state language.

On their lips were the words to the song that always marks International Mother Language Day - "Amar Bhaiyer Rokto Rangano Ekushey February, Ami Ki Bhulite Pari?"

This year, the 73rd anniversary of the first major resistance of Bengalis against Pakistani rule, comes after students and members of the public overcame a bloody uprising to dream of forming a new Bangladesh.

The mass uprising of July and August also centred on the Central Shaheed Minar in the capital. On Friday,...