Highlighting the role of students in the 2024 uprising, he said, "Who are these young people that we are dealing with? They have their own mind. They stood up and raised their voices and brought down the ugliest fascist regime you could ever think of given their lives".

"It would be a missed opportunity if you don't spend some time on understanding what they did a few months back in this very city. What was their expectation? What was their aspiration? Why did they stand up in front of guns and give their lives knowingly it will happen," the Chief Adviser said.

To reflect the students' motivation behind joining the uprising, he referred to school student Shaheed Shahriar Khan Anas's letter, which he wrote to his mother before embracing the martyrdom, stating that it was his duty to take to the street with his friends, who were subjected to state-sponsored crackdown.

Noting that the event was not a sudden outburst, Prof Yunus said it happened in Sri Lanka and in Nepal too, but it happened in a bigger way in Dhaka.

He thanked the World Bank for organizing the conference, saying, "This was our responsibility to organize, but we failed. The World Bank has to step into make it happen".

Organizing such gatherings was part of the responsibility under the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), the Chief Adviser said, adding, but the SAARC as a word has been forgotten and "that's a shame on us".

"This was supposed to be the idea of SAARC that we get together and make exchanges and learn from each other," he said, noting his efforts since he has taken the responsibility as the Chief Adviser to revive the SAARC.

"I am repeatedly reminding that we must get back to SAARC. That's where our family belongs to. And I will not give up repeating that appeal to the governments of the region," Prof Yunus said.