On February 23rd, 1948, when the first session of the Pakistan Constituent Assembly was started in English, Dhirendranath Dutta, a member of the East Bengal Congress Party, protested and demanded the inclusion of Bengali as one of the languages of the session. But all the members of the Muslim League rejected this demand. The students of East Bengal protested against this incident.

Later on the 26th and 29th, strikes were observed in all the educational institutions of Dhaka and a movement was held demanding that Bengali be declared one of the state languages of Pakistan and the state language of East Pakistan. Many people were injured in the lathi-charge of the police during the procession with the slogan 'State Language Bangla Chai' in support of the hartal. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Shamsul Haque, Oli Ahad, Kazi Golam Mahbub, and many others were arrested. Because of this incident, the strike was observed again on March 13th-15th. This time hartal was observed not only in Dhaka but all over the country. Khwaja Nazimuddin negotiated with the agitators and signed an agreement which included the release of the detainees, the formation of an inquiry committee, the proposal to make Bengali the medium of instruction in the Legislative Council, and the state language.

On March 21st, he delivered a speech at the then Race Course Maidan (now Suhrawardy Udyan) in Ramna and Dhaka University convocation on March 24. In both speeches, he rejected the demand for Bengali and declared Urdu as the state language of Pakistan. In his convocation address, he said, "Urdu and Urdu alone will be the state language of Pakistan." At that time, the students present shouted "no" and protested. At this time the language movement spread throughout East Pakistan.

On November 18th, 1948, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan, came to Dhaka and declared Urdu as the state language again. In the All Pakistan Education Conference held in Karachi in 1948, it was proposed to write Bangla in Arabic script. Dhaka University protested when the students shouted 'No, no'.

Food for Thought

Which dates stood out to you the most, and does it remind you of any prior historical event you know? While reading through this timeline there is a lot of information and history, it's all happening so fast. Asking students about their personal opinions and preferences in relation to this reading could bring more engagement.

More questions to lead a discussion could be:

• How is the struggle for language recognition and identity a significant theme?

• How the Bangla language was crucial in transforming East Pakistan into an independent nation.