Staff Correspondent

Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus today urged the young people to make up their mind and dream to bring a positive change in the country.

"I particularly encourage the young people to make up their mind, figure out and dream. Dream is the beginning of change. If you dream, it will happen. If you do not dream, it will never happen," he said while addressing the members of NDC and AFWC course at his office in Tejgaon here.

"Ask yourself - 'what can I do for the world?' Once you figure out what you want to do, you can get it done because you have that power," Prof Yunus told the youths.

He said the young generation in the planet at present is the most powerful generation in the entire human history. "Not because they are smart enough but because they have enormous technology in their hand," he said.

"If you look at the student revolution, it is all about technology. They (students) could communicate with each other very quickly. They did not have any command structure," the chief adviser said, adding that the technology is the Aladin's lamp.

About the student-led revolution, he said the young people of the country want to see a new Bangladesh.

The young people are not politicians and not pursuing some political goals but they wanted to have a new country for themselves, he said.

Referring to global peace attaché, the 2006 Noble Peace Laureate said most of the time, people kill one another in the name of peace.

"...but we commit to ourselves every day, all our pronouncements and all our philosophies. We want peace. Peace inside the country, peace among the countries and peace globally," he said.

Prof Yunus said he finds it extremely funny that every government in the world has a defense ministry, literally it is war ministry, but there is no peace ministry.

"If your aim is peace, should not you have a peace ministry?" he questioned.

Observing that people need to protect themselves against attacks, Prof Yunus stressed having both ministries - peace ministry and war ministry - in governments of the world.

He suggested introduction of peace, in foreign relations along with the defense attach.

The chief adviser said it is a self-destructive planet as "we have done everything to just prepare to kill ourselves".

Citing an example, he said people are destroying the environment to destroy the planet.

"We have created a created wrong civilization - self destructive civilization," he said, adding that every day people are destroying the planet.

The Chief Adviser greeted the members of NDC and AFWC course and wished their success.