Solaiman showed death-defying courage to earn recognition for Bangla

When police baton-charged and opened fire on rallies that demanded that Bangla be made one of the state languages of Pakistan on 21 February 1952, Solaiman, a student of Dhaka University, and many others were injured.

Following the incident, news spread in Solaiman's native village in Chattogram that he and his brother Azad, also a Language Movement activist, were killed in a police shooting. Gloom engulfed the village for days, but proving the news wrong, Solaiman, who was gradually recovering from his injuries, returned home on 25 February and advanced the Language Movement in Chattogram.

Upon completing his graduation, he started teaching in colleges and emerged as an eminent educationist.

Mohammad Solaiman was born on 6 January 1927 in Uttar Hashimpur in Chandanaish upazila of Chattogram. His father Abdul Aziz was a renowned businessman in the area.

Solaiman passed matriculation from Nityananda Gaurachandra Secondary School in 1946, and the intermediate exam in 1948 from Sir Ashutosh College in Chattogram.

At that time, Solaiman became active in student politics by joining the Tamaddun Majlish, one of the founding organisations of the Language Movement, at the call of Principal Abul Kashem.

In his article "Language Movement and Chattogram," language activist AKM Emdadul Islam wrote, "There was a magazine called 'Sainik,' published by the Tamaddun Majlish. The organisation expressed its thoughts through this magazine. At that time Azizur Rahman, Sahabuddin Khaled, Mahfuzul Haque, Ezharul Haque and Mohammad Solaiman were associated with the Tamaddun Majlish."

Solaiman earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Chittagong College in 1950 and Masters from the Islamic History Department of Dhaka University in 1952.

While studying at Dhaka University, Mohammad Solaiman played an active role in the Language Movement.

In February 1952, when Khwaja Nazimuddin reiterated that only Urdu would be the state language of Pakistan, the Rashtrabhasha Sangram Parishad (National Language Action Committee) took up a series of programmes.

Solaiman's elder brother Abul Kalam Azad, a Tamaddun Majlish leader, arrived in Dhaka on 19 February that year to take part in the movement.

The government of Pakistan imposed Section 144 for a month from 20 February to demolish the protests, but Solaiman and other language activists of Dhaka University decided to violate it and carry out the predetermined programmes at Amtala on Dhaka University campus.

As per the decision, on 21 February 1952, Solaiman and Azad gathered at Amtala with other students and distributed leaflets in support of violating Section 144. Then, the students held a rally with the slogans "Section 144 must be broken" and "We want Bangla as the state language."

At one point, police baton-charged the rally and injured Solaiman and Azad along with many others. 

Solaiman, who suffered grave injuries in the incident, recovered gradually.

He started teaching at Sir Ashutosh College in 1954 and joined MES College, Chattogram in 1975 as the principal. Later, he returned to Sir Ashutosh College and served as its principal from 1976 to 1989. After leaving Sir Ashutosh College, he served as the principal of Sitakunda College for a short period.

His book "Amader Otit" (Our Past) was a textbook for the ninth and tenth grade students in the 1960s. In addition, he authored two more books, "Prosongo Sangskriti" (The Issue of Culture) and "Parashakti and Afghanistan" (Superpowers and Afghanistan).

Solaiman died on 14 November 1992. 

A TBS-Nagad initiative.