Bengali Language movement hero Abdul Matin died at a hospital in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka on Wednesday after a long illness at the age of 88.

He was undergoing treatment at the ICU of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University after a stroke on Aug. 18 and was on life support after his condition deteriorated on Oct. 3.

Matin, who fought for establishing Bangla as a state language in 1952, breathed his last at the ICU at around 9:00 a.m. (local time) Wednesday.

Matin, popularly known as Bhasha Matin meaning Matin for state language, played a significant role in Language Movement in 1952.

On Feb. 21, 1952, many brave youths of the then east-Pakistan, now Bangladesh, embraced martyrdom in police firing in the streets of Dhaka, now the capital of Bangladesh, while protesting the then Pakistani rulers' declaration that "Urdu and only Urdu" would be state language, a language that virtually few people knew in east- Pakistan.

Abdus Salam, Rafiq Uddin Ahmed, Abul Barkat, Abdul Jabbar and other brave sons of now Bangladesh sacrificed their lives this day in 1952 to establish Bangla as a state language.

Abdul Matin, also a communist party politics leader, was one of the leading student leader and organizer of the movement. His contribution to the movement has been hailed by other activists and students.

Matin, who was born on Dec. 3, 1926, entered the Dhaka University in 1945 and engaged himself in the Bengali language movement.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has expressed shock at the demise of Matin and her sincere sympathy to the bereaved family.

In a condolence message, Hasina said the first step for the independence of the country was taken through the great Language Movement.

"Abdul Matin was one of the fighters of that historic movement. His death is the end of a living history."

On Nov. 17, 1999, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared that Feb. 21 is the International Mother Language Day to honor the language movement in Bangladesh, which became an independent and sovereign country in 1971 from Pakistan.