International Mother Language Day is an opportunity to promote and celebrate linguistic and cultural diversity, and to recognise and protect human rights of minorities and indigenous people, said Fernand de Varennes, UN special rapporteur on minority issues, yesterday.

As the nation paid homage to the Language Movement heroes on the International Mother Language Day, people visited the capital's Central Shaheed Minar.

The nation pays rich tributes to the martyrs of the 1952 historic Language Movement with the clock striking 12:01am, marking 'Amar Ekushey', the Language Martyrs' Day and International Mother Language Day.

About a decade ago, Bivuti Chakma and his companion Jyoti Chakma pondered on how to penetrate the digital world with their native language. Far away from them, Manik Soren, from the Santal community, embarked upon doing the same.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) drafts out plans for security measures during the International Mother Language Day on February 21.