The newsroom was filled with familiar faces, conversations and memories. Former and current colleagues gathered to mark the journey of Bangladesh’s first internet-based news publisher, as they had done at anniversaries in the past. But this time, one person was missing -- the man around whom so many of those gatherings had revolved.
Toufique Imrose Khalidi.
The preparations for a grand celebration at a five-star hotel had been under way when the pioneer of online journalism in Bangladesh died, just weeks before the milestone. The planned festivities became a memorial inside the newsroom.
On Friday, marking 20 years since bdnews24.com began its round-the-clock operation on Oct 23, 2006, colleagues spoke of Khalidi in fragments of memory. Some paused to compose themselves; others broke down before they could begin, or stopped midway through their recollections.
The newsroom marked the anniversary under the motto Khalidi had chosen, “First. Free. Fearless -- Beyond 20 Years!” The gathering became a pledge to preserve the journalistic standards he had championed and keep the organisation moving forward.
“We will not lose our way if we hold on to the lessons of honesty, courage and never compromising that we learnt from Toufique Bhai,” said Biswadip Das, acting editor-in-chief and Khalidi’s successor.
“The day should have been joyful, Biswadip said, but Khalidi’s physical absence had left him speechless. Had he been there, the anniversary would have been very different.
“Khalidi would not have wanted work to stop because of grief. The newsroom must instead carry his ideals forward and make bdnews24.com better.
“People like him might be difficult to find even over the next several generations. Preserving the journalistic tradition and values he left behind would be the most meaningful way to honour him.”
The Man Who Saw the Future of News
Khalidi’s name is bound to many of the defining firsts in Bangladesh’s modern news industry.
The journey began in the first half of 2005, when BDNEWS supplied news to media outlets, as other agencies did. But while others relied on teleprinters, BDNEWS began distributing reports over the internet.
A change in ownership and management in 2006 transformed the organisation. In July that year, a new management team led by Khalidi turned it into the country’s first dotcom company.
On Oct 23, bdnews24.com began operating as a 24-hour news service, marking the start of a new era in Bangladeshi journalism.
Over the next two decades, the organisation documented the country’s history while expanding the ways news could reach readers.
It introduced multimedia content, mobile news services, and breaking news and alerts in both Bangla and English, helping pioneer formats that others would later adopt.
It also developed digital spaces for readers of different ages and interests. More than 10 million people now follow bdnews24.com on Facebook.
Yet Khalidi considered steadfastness on journalistic standards a greater source of pride than the many innovations the organisation introduced. Until his death, he guided the newsroom by a simple credo: “Accurate news before everyone else.”
At the anniversary gathering, bdnews24.com Director Raad Sharar Khalidi spoke of the editor’s deep curiosity about a wide range of subjects, which had helped keep him ahead of his time.
Curiosity, he said, was essential to journalism and would remain vital to the organisation’s future.
“Completing 20 years is an achievement, but it is also a time for us to begin anew. Journalism is changing rapidly. The way people read, watch and listen to the news is changing. We must change, too. And in many areas, we will set the trends. We have done so before, and we will do so again.”
“Toufique Bhai” in the Memories of Colleagues
For many who spoke at the gathering, Khalidi was more than an editor. He was a mentor who understood both journalism and technology, a colleague who worked alongside reporters, and a leader who stood by his team when the institution faced uncertainty.
Former colleague Arun Devnath, now a deputy editor at The Daily Star, recalled how Khalidi built bdnews24.com into an iconic brand by combining journalism with technology.
“Twenty years ago, when bdnews24.com was born, many people were sceptical about the prospects of digital journalism. But we could not think the way Toufique Bhai did. He did not just understand news; he had a remarkable grasp of the demands of technology.”
Khalidi was no distant commander who issued instructions from afar, Devnath said. In the early days at the Dhanmondi office, he sat at the news desk, edited reports and even published them himself.
The organisation’s early years were marked by severe financial hardship. There were times, Debnath recalled, when the office had no electricity and not enough money to buy fuel for the generator.
Colleagues worked through the intense heat with only a few stand fans. Khalidi was deeply pained to see their suffering, but their enthusiasm never waned, Arun added.
“What we call multimedia today, he introduced to the newsroom as new media two decades ago. To think of it in Bangladesh at that time and turn it into reality was truly extraordinary.”
He added that bdnews24.com had helped train a generation of professionals who now worked in newsrooms at home and abroad.
The young team running the organisation today, he said, had the skill and dedication to carry it forward.
Chief News Editor Jahidul Kabir recalled a line Khalidi had once spoken, displayed on the backdrop at the anniversary event: “We have gone through many difficult situations, but we never bowed our heads.”
“He believed that, in the end, he had emerged victorious. In 2026, Toufique Imrose Khalidi left us as a victor.”
London correspondent Syed Nahas Pasha remembered meeting Khalidi at a London hotel on Oct 1, the day before his death. He had found him unwell.
“He was not supposed to leave us like this. I will never forget that final scene.”
The two had shared memories from Khalidi’s trips to London and Paris, including late-night online discussions about hotels and arrangements for his travels.
They had also discussed buying equipment for the anniversary event. Khalidi had planned to come to Dhaka for the celebration, and preparations were under way.
Instead, Pasha recalled, he and Biswadip had accompanied him in his final hours before taking him to hospital.
Former colleague Palash Dutta urged current staff to preserve the standards Khalidi had demanded of every report.
“When we edited news, we always had one thought in mind: would Toufique Bhai be 100 percent satisfied with our work, and could we give the right answer if he questioned any part of a report?
“Toufique Bhai is no longer here, but my appeal to the current staff of bdnews is to maintain that highest standard and his principles before publishing every story.”
Arts Editor Raju Alauddin, a poet, essayist and translator who had worked with Khalidi since 2010, recalled his personal taste and the time they spent together outside the newsroom.
He remembered visits to his home, shared moments and Khalidi’s interest in Mexican food.
Despite lawsuits, financial difficulties and other obstacles, Raju said, Khalidi had upheld his ideals of objective, impartial and honest journalism. Former and current colleagues were carrying those lessons forward.
Columnist and Liberation War researcher Saleh Khokon said Khalidi had stood beside him throughout his work on the 1971 war.
“Every moment I worked on the Liberation War, Toufique Bhai was beside me like a shadow. The courage he taught us -- to be daring at an inopportune time -- gives us the strength to overcome this emptiness.”
News Editor Ruhul Amin Rana said the day should have found him preparing to broadcast live from Radisson Blu Water Garden Hotel, Dhaka.
“I should have been preparing for how we would go live from the Radisson [Friday]. I cannot imagine that I now have to remember Toufique Bhai like this.
“Even now, when the gate opens after midnight, I feel as if Toufique Bhai is about to walk into the newsroom. Toufique Bhai will remain among us. He will live on through the news.”
Shah Alam Babul said that, after returning to the organisation for a second stint, he had come to feel Khalidi was everywhere, from front to back and top to bottom. Even now, he said, it was difficult to shake that feeling.
“All we can do is follow the path Toufique Bhai showed us and think the way he did.”
Colleague Rajib Nur recalled Khalidi’s determination to pursue a project documenting the Liberation War in “Bangladesh, Penned in Blood” series, despite an unfavourable climate.
“Toufique Imrose Khalidi said, ‘This is the time. During this long, uninterrupted period of the Awami League, reams and reams of pages have been written. Those will not remain; this will.’”
Rajib said colleagues had tried to dissuade Khalidi from proceeding, but he believed the work needed to be done precisely then.
His commitment to the Liberation War, communal harmony and secularism was firm, Rajib said, while objectivity remained his foremost principle in reporting.
Colleague and veteran journalist Liton Haider said his best years had been spent working alongside Khalidi, whom he described as a towering figure in journalism.
“After Toufique Bhai’s death, even looking at his photographs had become painful,” he said. But he believed the organisation would go far if its staff continued to uphold his ideals.
Chief Correspondent Mainul Alam acknowledged that Khalidi’s absence could never truly be filled.
“But we will move forward along his path. That is our task now.”
Khalidi had shaped the organisation’s history, working methods and reputation, Mainul said.
He had also kept in touch with former colleagues and reminded others not to forget them.
On the anniversary, Mainul pledged to keep bdnews24.com moving forward as “first, free and fearless”.
Colleague Abdur Rahim Harmachi reflected on the years he had spent at the organisation, including a period away.
“Twenty years of BDNEWS, 15 years of mine. I was away for four and a half years. Yet I discovered Toufique Bhai in many different ways. I respected him, but my son respected him even more. My wife did, too. Toufique Bhai was part of every employee’s family.”
Colleague Moinul Hoque Chowdhury said Khalidi had taught him that journalism became much easier when a reporter obtained the right statement from the right person.
Newsroom victories, he recalled, were shared: colleagues would celebrate when they broke a story first or saw other outlets follow their reporting.
“On a joyful day like the anniversary, it is difficult to accept Toufique Bhai’s absence. He was not just the head of the organisation; to his colleagues, he was like a member of the family. We feel his presence all the time.”
He urged staff to imagine Khalidi looking over every story and every word, guiding them as they worked.
Jasmin Moli, who joined bdnews24.com in May 2024, recalled reporting on corruption allegations involving powerful businesspeople and politicians during the mass uprising and the fall of the government. Khalidi reassured her and never tried to stop her from publishing such reports.
“The last time we met in the newsroom, Toufique Imrose Khalidi told me, ‘We want to do more and more corruption stories.’”
She urged colleagues to remember him by continuing that work.
Former colleague Mahmud Zaman Ovi recalled Khalidi’s repeated advice to put safety before photography.
“Toufique Bhai always told me, ‘Not the photograph first, your own safety first. Wherever you take photographs, make sure you are safe before you take them’.”
Former colleague Mazhar Sircar said he still found Khalidi’s death difficult to believe.
“Toufique Bhai encouraged new ideas, including a floating newsroom aboard a launch during a trip to Kuakata. Even now, when editing a report, staff found themselves wondering how Khalidi would assess a story or sentence.
Personal assistant Akib Javed said Khalidi had faced many difficult situations for the organisation but never abandoned his position.
“He had been excited about the 20th anniversary and might have planned to announce his retirement at the event, handing over responsibility to his colleagues.”
Former employee Shahinul Huda Jewel described Khalidi and the organisation as inseparable.
“We must work together to carry his dream forward. We may not be able to create another Toufique Imrose Khalidi, but if we all work together, realising his dream is not impossible.”
Sports colleague Anik Mishkat promised to honour the trust Khalidi had placed in the team.
“We will try our utmost to protect the trust Toufique Bhai placed in the sports team and the love he had for us. He was proud of our team, and we will not allow anything to tarnish that pride.”
For colleague Chandan Kumar Saha, the task was to honour the home Khalidi had wanted to build. Quoting a line from a song by Jalal Uddin Khan, he said: “When it was time to part, we had come to build a home.”
Though separated from Khalidi physically, colleagues had to fulfil the responsibilities he left behind and carry the institution forward, Saha said.
Another colleague Omar Sharif recalled that Khalidi had encouraged him to launch Glitz and Lifestyle, and that he continued discussing new projects even towards the end of his life.
Colleague Faizan Siddiqui recalled waiting for Khalidi to arrive so they could cut the anniversary cake.
“The person we used to wait for, wondering when he would arrive so we could cut the cake, will never come again. He will not walk through the gate and ask everyone, ‘How are you?’ That is the hardest thing to accept.”
Former colleague Pinto Billah described Khalidi as one of his best clients, someone who gave clear instructions and trusted him to deliver even when a brief arrived at the last minute.
A Legacy that Belongs to the Newsroom
For colleague Md Mostafigur Rahman, the responsibility ahead was clear.
“Our only task now is to carry forward Toufique Bhai’s work. We will all pray for him.”
Former colleague Ziad Mubashshir Islam Rohan, who joined bdnews24.com in 2007, described the organisation as the school that had laid the foundation for his career, with Khalidi as its headmaster.
“I have no doubt that the skilled colleagues Toufique Bhai trained and left behind in the newsroom will successfully run this organisation while upholding his principles and ideals.”
The celebration Khalidi planned became a memorial. The promise his colleagues made was to keep the newsroom moving -- First. Free. Fearless.