Three major Indian news outlets — India Today, News18 and The Week — on Thursday, October 29, reported on Bangladeshi journalist Qadaruddin Shishir’s role in establishing contact between student protest leaders and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus before the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government on August 5, 2024.

The reports followed a Facebook post by Shafiqul Alam, editor of Daily Waadaa and former press secretary to Yunus and former bureau chief of Agence France-Presse (AFP) in Dhaka, who disclosed that Shishir had acted as an intermediary between student leaders and Yunus while Hasina was still in power.

Shafiqul said the discussions began two days before Hasina fled Bangladesh, placing the initial contact around August 3, 2024.

“When student leaders wanted to reach out to Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus and invite him to head the interim government in a post-Hasina scenario, they needed a trusted bridge-builder. Qadaruddin Shishir stepped up to fulfil that critical role,” Shafiqul wrote on October 28.

Shishir was then working as an editor with AFP's fact-checking operation in Dhaka.

India Today published a report by Sushim Mukul on Thursday under the headline, “Bangladesh regime change: AFP journalist contacted Yunus even before Hasina's exit.”

The report pointed out Shafiqul's disclosure that Shishir had facilitated communication between student leaders and Yunus before Hasina's departure.

India Today placed the disclosure alongside earlier reports concerning the organisation of the July-August 2024 uprising and the political transition that followed.

The publication revisited Yunus's remarks at a September 2024 event in New York, where he introduced Mahfuz Alam, then his special assistant, as a leading organiser of the uprising.

News18 carried the story under the headline, “Bangladesh Regime Change: How An AFP Journalist Became A Link Between Student Leaders And Yunus.”

The report focused on Shishir's reported role as a communication channel between student protest leaders in Bangladesh and Yunus, who was in France at the time.

It drew on Shafiqul's account of how the student leaders sought to contact Yunus about heading an interim administration after Hasina's anticipated departure.

The Week published a report by Sachin Jose under the headline, “Who is Qadaruddin Shishir? How AFP journalist helped student protesters connect with Muhammad Yunus days before Sheikh Hasina ouster.”

The publication focused on Shishir's professional background and Shafiqul's account of the confidential communication.

The Week reported that Shishir worked as Bangladesh editor for AFP Fact Check from 2021 to 2025 and is currently editor of The Dissent, a Dhaka-based investigative news outlet.

According to the publication, Shishir co-founded BD FactCheck in 2017 and subsequently headed the fact-checking desk at Boom Bangladesh during 2020-21.

He previously worked as a new media researcher at Jamuna Television and as a reporter for the Daily New Nation.

His work has focused on election disinformation, cybercrime and communal rumours.

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