Fresh claims have emerged about the events leading to Sheikh Hasina’s departure from Bangladesh in August 2024, after former press secretary Shafiqul Alam revealed that an AFP journalist helped student leaders contact Muhammad Yunus before the government fell.
In a Facebook post dated October 28, Alam said Qadaruddin Shishir, then associated with AFP’s fact-checking team in Dhaka, acted as a mediator between the student protesters and Yunus, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate who later led Bangladesh’s interim government.
According to Alam, student leaders wanted to invite Yunus to head the proposed interim administration and needed a trusted intermediary to establish contact. He said Shishir approached Yunus on their behalf and facilitated initial discussions, keeping the process confidential amid the political uncertainty.
The revelation has renewed questions about preparations for the post-Hasina government. However, the account does not independently establish that the wider protest movement was orchestrated as a regime-change operation.
The student-led demonstrations began over a government job quota system before escalating into a nationwide movement that forced Hasina to leave Bangladesh on August 5, 2024.
Student leaders publicly proposed Yunus as interim government chief adviser on August 6. He returned from Paris on August 8 and assumed the role.
The disclosures have added another dimension to continuing debates over the origins, leadership and political consequences of Bangladesh’s 2024 uprising.