Abdus Sobhan Sikder is a retired Bangladeshi senior secretary and former ambassador of Bangladesh to Italy.[1] He is the former principal secretary to prime minister Sheikh Hasina.[2] He is a former secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs.[3]
Sikder finished his undergrad and masters in English at the University of Dhaka.
Sikder was the secretary of the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division in 2008.[4]
Sikder was the secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs in 2010 when 20 websites of organizations under the Prime Minister's Office were hacked by Indian hackers.[5] Lieutenant colonel Ziaul Ahsan was responsible for tracking down the hackers and Yeafesh Osman was responsible for bring them back online. He ordered actions against stalkers harassing students.[6] He oversaw the investigation into Bangladesh Rifles revolt.[7] He oversaw the rebranding of Bangladesh Rifles to Border Guard Bangladesh and formation of the National Committee for Intelligence Coordination.[8] [9] He was present at the execution of five killers of former president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.[10]
In 2012, Sikder was the secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration.[11] He saw the recruitment of four thousand doctors through a special examination of the Bangladesh Civil Service. He carried out mass promotions in the civil service and increasing the retirement age of secretaries.[12] [13] [14] He was criticized for meeting with Hossain Toufique Imam along with a number of civil servants in December 2013.[15] Questions were raised about serving civil servants having a meeting with Imam as he was the co-chairman of Election Steering Committee of the Awami League.
Sikder was the principal secretary to prime minister Sheikh Hasina in 2014.[16] He replaced secretary Shaikh Md Wahid-uz Zaman.[17]
Sikder was appointed ambassador of Bangladesh to Italy in May 2016. He replaced Md Shahdat Hossain who was appointed ambassador of Bangladesh to Belgium.[18] In February 2020, he received Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who was on a bilateral visit to meet with Prime Minister of Italy Giuseppe Conte.[19]