Student Leaders Contacted Yunus Two Days Before Hasina Fled, Former Aide Says

A Secret Approach Before Bangladesh's Change of Power

Student leaders approached Muhammad Yunus about leading an interim government two days before Sheikh Hasina fled Bangladesh on August 5, 2024, according to Yunus's former press secretary, Shafiqul Alam. His account places the first contact around August 3, while Hasina was still prime minister and demonstrations against her government were continuing.

In a Facebook post dated October 28, Alam identified Qadaruddin Shishir, then editor of AFP's fact checking team in Dhaka, as the intermediary. He said Shishir contacted the Nobel Peace Prize laureate on the students' behalf and arranged the initial discussions in secrecy.

The timing adds a specific detail to the transition that ended Hasina's 15 years in power: student leaders were discussing a possible successor before she left the country. They publicly proposed Yunus on August 6, and he took office as chief adviser on August 8 after returning from Paris.

Alam's description concerns private preparations during the final days of a much wider uprising. The protests began in July over government job quotas, then grew into a movement challenging Hasina's rule as a deadly crackdown intensified public anger.

Who Made the First Contact?

Alam, who worked alongside Shishir at the AFP bureau before becoming Yunus's press secretary, described the journalist as someone the students trusted to carry their proposal. He said the approach concerned an interim administration for the period after Hasina.

Alam identified Shishir's role in these words:

It was Shishir who first approached the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner on behalf of the student leaders and facilitated the initial talks between the two parties.

Alam said only a small circle knew about the discussions. His account gives Shishir a role in opening communication between the students and Yunus, rather than simply passing along a public demand after Hasina's departure.

The identities of the students involved in the first approach, the method of communication and Yunus's initial response remain unspecified. Independent confirmation from Shishir, Yunus or the participating students has not been established.

Why Alam Says the Talks Were Secret

Hasina's government was still in office when the approach took place, according to Alam. He said those involved feared discovery by the security apparatus and the possibility of secret detention.

Alam described the working arrangements inside the Dhaka bureau:

At the time, Shishir was the editor of AFP Dhaka Fact Check team. Sitting just a yard away from my desk in the AFP Dhaka bureau, he managed this high-stakes operation in complete secrecy. Only a select few trusted individuals knew what was happening.

Alam also claimed that Shishir and colleagues could have been taken to an Aynaghar facility had the discussions been uncovered. Aynaghar, meaning house of mirrors, is a name associated with secret detention facilities in Bangladesh and allegations of enforced disappearance and torture. An enforced disappearance occurs when someone is detained and the authorities conceal their whereabouts or deny holding them.

Alam's description of that danger is his assessment of the risks at the time. His allegations about killings and abductions form part of a broader dispute over the actions of Hasina's security services during her final months in office.

From Quota Protests to an Interim Government

Bangladesh's political transition unfolded quickly in early August, after weeks of demonstrations and violence. Government job quotas, which reserve a share of public posts for particular groups, were the initial focus of student anger. The confrontation then expanded into a demand for Hasina to leave power.

The sequence described by Alam and the subsequent public events is:

• July 2024: Student protests over government job quotas widened into a movement against Hasina's government.
• Around August 3, 2024: Student leaders first contacted Yunus through Shishir, according to Alam.
• August 5, 2024: Hasina fled Bangladesh, ending her 15 years in office.
• August 6, 2024: Student leaders publicly proposed Yunus to head an interim administration.
• August 8, 2024: Yunus took office as chief adviser after returning from Paris.
• February 2026: The interim administration handed over power following the election that brought Tarique Rahman to the premiership.

On that timeline, the alleged first contact came about five days before Yunus took office. The public proposal followed Hasina's departure by one day. Those intervals explain why Alam's account has renewed attention to how the student leadership prepared for a possible transfer of power while demonstrations were still under way.

The Video Evidence Alam Described

Shishir was also gathering video evidence of killings allegedly committed by the government during the crackdown, Alam said. His post places that activity alongside the journalist's alleged role in contacting Yunus.

Video evidence can help investigators reconstruct an incident by showing a location, the people present and the order in which events occurred. Establishing when and where a recording was made, and checking whether it has been edited, are central parts of assessing it.

Alam gave no inventory of the recordings or explanation of where they were later submitted. The alleged collection therefore remains a specific part of his account, with the contents and subsequent use of the videos unspecified.

The scale of the violence later became central to criminal proceedings. A United Nations investigation estimated that up to 1,400 people were killed during the weeks of protests, most by gunfire from security forces. That estimate concerns the wider uprising, rather than the particular recordings Alam says Shishir collected.

What the Interim Administration Changed

Yunus became chief adviser rather than an elected prime minister. The interim administration was tasked with restoring stability, carrying out reforms and preparing elections after the collapse of Hasina's government.

Its period in office lasted roughly a year and a half, from August 2024 until February 2026. The administration restricted Awami League activities and sought Hasina's return from India, where she had taken refuge.

The Awami League was barred from the February 2026 parliamentary election, which brought the Bangladesh Nationalist Party to power under Tarique Rahman. For its supporters, the exclusion had an immediate consequence: they could not vote for an Awami League candidate in that election.

Descriptions of the action against the party have varied between a ban on its activities and its disbanding. Restrictions on its political activities and its exclusion from the election are the concrete measures affecting its participation. Those restrictions remained a central complaint in Hasina's later appeals for an inclusive political process.

Hasina's Conviction and Her Challenge to the Transition

Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal sentenced Hasina to death on November 17, 2025, for crimes against humanity linked to the suppression of the 2024 uprising. She was tried in absentia, meaning the proceedings took place without her being physically present in court.

The judges convicted her of incitement, ordering killings and failing to prevent atrocities. Former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan also received a death sentence, while former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun received five years in prison after cooperating as a state witness.

Hasina rejects the conviction and has accused the Yunus administration of pursuing politically motivated cases, repressing opponents and allowing people responsible for violence to escape accountability. She has also alleged support for extremist elements. Those accusations are her position in the political dispute.

Bangladesh requested her extradition from India. Extradition is the formal process through which one country asks another to surrender a person for prosecution or punishment. India's response to the request is a separate decision from the Bangladeshi tribunal's judgment.

A Dispute Continuing After Yunus Left Office

Hasina later renewed her pledge to return to Bangladesh and appealed to the United States to support inclusive elections and independent courts. She identified December 2026 as her intended return period, although her son, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, said no date had been fixed.

Her return pledge brings together the unresolved political and legal consequences of the uprising: a death sentence, an extradition request and restrictions on the party she led. Rahman's government inherited those issues after the interim administration transferred power.

Opposition to Yunus also surfaced during a visit to the United States, when protesters confronted him at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. A circulating video showed people shouting accusations as his escort moved him away. The protesters were described as Awami League supporters.

Alam's account now adds an earlier episode to that continuing dispute. Its central claim is precise: student leaders sought a channel to Yunus while Hasina was still in power. A fuller account of those private discussions would require details from the people who took part, including what Yunus was asked, what he agreed to and when.

Key Points

• Former Yunus press secretary Shafiqul Alam says student leaders contacted Yunus around August 3, 2024, two days before Hasina fled.
• Alam identified journalist Qadaruddin Shishir as the intermediary and said the discussions were secret.
• Students publicly proposed Yunus on August 6; he took office on August 8.
• Alam also alleged that Shishir collected video evidence of killings during the crackdown.
• Hasina was sentenced to death in absentia in November 2025 and disputes the conviction.
• The interim administration transferred power in February 2026, while the Awami League remained excluded from that election.