DHAKA, Feb 19: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said Monday those who ignore the spirit of the Language Movement and four principles of Liberation War are enemies of the country’s independence.

To face those enemies, the prime minister said the spirit of Ekushey should be infused in the new generation and Bangla language and literature should be practiced at all national spheres as well as all levels of the society.

She said this while distributing Ekushey Padak- 2012 at Osmani Memorial Hall in the capital on Monday.

Hasina said the glorious message and melody the immortal Ekushey now transcended across 193 counties beyond Bangladesh boundary.

Today Ekushey is being observed across the globe as a day for protecting the rights of languages of different ethnic groups, she said.

This year Ekushey Padak, one of the highest civilian awards of the country introduced in memory of the martyrs of the Language Movement of 1952, was conferred to 15 distinguished persons for their outstanding contribution in different fields.

The recipients are: Momtaj Begum (posthumous) for Language Movement, artist Mobinul Azim (posthumous), filmmaker Tareq Masud (posthumous), artiste Dr Enamul Haq and Mamunur Rashid and Professor Karunamoy Goswami for art and culture, journalists Mishuk Munier (posthumous), Ehtesham Haider Chowdhury and Habibur Rahman Milon for journalism, Prof Ajoy Kumar Roy, Dr Monsurul Alam Khan and Professor AK Nazmul Karim (postmous) for education, Professor Baren Chakraborty for science and technology, Srimath Suddhananda Mohathero for social service, Professor Humayun Azad (posthumous) for language and literature.

Minister for Information and Cultural Affairs Abul Kalam Azad presided over the function while state minister for cultural affairs Advocate Promode Mankin, secretary of the ministry of cultural affairs Suraiya Begum spoke, among others.

Cabinet Secretary Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan read out the citation of the Ekushey Padak recipients and conducted the award giving ceremony.

Ministers, PM's advisors, parliament members, foreign diplomats and high officials attended the meeting.

Prime Minister said the spirit of Ekushey inspired us in our emergence as an independent state.

The Language Movement turned into a movement for self- determination from the fifties, she said.

She mentioned her government's initiative to make Bangla as one of the UN official languages and said her government has already raised the point in the UN General Assembly and is making constant stride to this end.

The prime minister said the International Mother Language Institute has been established in Dhaka along with enacting the International Mother

Language Institute Act for preservation of the languages of different countries and ethnic groups and carrying out research on languages and culture.

It has been made compulsory for installation of Bangla keypad in the basic mobile hand sets of all brands and steps have been taken to introduce .bangla rpt .bangla as the second country coded top level domain side by side with .bd rpt .bd, she said.

Hasina said the Language Movement had unfolded the secular conscience in the mind of Bangalee people, and the Father of the nation beholding the spirit, accepted the secularism as one of the basic principles of our constitution in 1972.

After the brutal killing of Bangabandhu, she said the military regimes damaged the spirit and rehabilitated the anti- liberation force.

The present government has reinstated the glorious history of nation and spirit in the constitution through an amendment, she added.

Referring to the speech of Bangabandhu in the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in Bangla in 1974, she said Bangabandhu did this to introduce Bangla and Bangalee nation to the global community. "I'm also following him while addressing the UNGA," she said.

The prime minister said Ekushey is a glorious history of making sacrifice by the Bangalee nation for establishing their rights of mother language.

It's an endless source of inspiration for us to preserve Bangalee literature, culture, customs, nationalism and originality, she said adding, "Ekush is our pride and our overall identity".

She paid her glorious tributes to the language heroes Salam, Barkat, Rafiq, Jabbar, Safiur and others and also recalled the role of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who served imprisonment times and again for his leadership in the Language Movement.

The prime minister paid rich tributes to Dhirendranath Dutta, who had raised the demand first in the national assembly of the then Pakistan to make Bangla as one of the state languages, and leaders of Tamaddun Majlish, Chhatra League and other student forums of the Language Movement.

She called for preserving the sensibility of the Ekushey to build a knowledge-based, prosperous, peaceful and secular Bangladesh.

In this way we can build a 'Sonar Bangla' as dreamt by the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, she said.

Sheikh Hasina extended her best wishes to the Ekushey Padak recipients and said the award has redoubled their responsibility to implement the spirit of Ekushey and they would play a leading role in flourishing the Bangla language, literature and culture.