It is probably unimaginable to reflect the suffering that the people of East Pakistan went through to win for themselves one of the most fundamental rights of mankind - Freedom of Speech. People in East Pakistan were restricted by the Central Pakistani government to only use Urdu as their medium of instruction and the official language, and give up their own beloved language, Bangla. Foregoing the language that was central to their ethnological identity was a very unpleasant option for the constituents of the Eastern wing of Pakistan. The Central government demanded that Urdu be the state language for the entire Pakistan,
as Urdu was the dominant language in the western part. The general populace of the Eastern part of Pakistan was not ready to embrace Urdu and learn a new language in order to facilitate this forced imposition by the government. Instead of complying, the determined citizens of East Pakistan wanted to defy the odds and protested to retain their mother tongue. A group of students and political activists of University of Dhaka and Dhaka Medical College decided to protest against the oppression meted out to the Bangla-speaking population. They initiated a movement and demanded that Bangla be given equal status as Urdu, and for both to be enshrined as the state languages of Pakistan. The police fired upon the youths and made them the martyrs who epitomized the value of self-determination; their sacrifice set a new precedent for the country to demand their Freedom of Speech. This brutal atrocity took place on 21 February, 1952.
The original fortification wall on the south has five bastions at regular intervals, and the western wall has two. Among the seven bastions, the biggest one is near the main southern gate at the back of the stable, which occupies the area to the west of the gateway. The bastion has an underground tunnel. Among the five bastions of the southern fortification, the central one is single-storeyed, while the rest are double-storeyed structures. The central one contains an underground room with verandahs on three sides, and it can be approached either from the riverside or from its roof. The double-storeyed bastion at the southwestern corner of the fort is possibly a Hawakhana, with a water reservoir on its roof.
Kazi Nazrul Islam was born in the village of Churulia in the Burdwan District of Bengal (now located in the Indian state of West Bengal).He was born in a Muslim family who is second of three sons and a daughter, Nazrul's father Kazi Fakeer Ahmed was the imam and caretaker of the local
mosque and mausoleum. Nazrul's mother was Zaheda Khatun. Nazrul had two brothers, Kazi Shahebjan and Kazi Ali Hussain, and a sister, Umme Kulsum. Nicknamed Dukhu Mia (Sad Man), Nazrul began attending the maktab — the local religious school run by the mosque — where he studied the Qur'an and other scriptures, Islamic philosophy and theology. His family was devastated with the death of his father in 1908. At the young age of ten, Nazrul began working in his father's place as a caretaker to support his family, as well as assisting teachers in school. He later became the muezzin at the mosque, delivering the Athan and calling the people for prayer.
