Abdus Sobhan Sikder

Sikder finished his undergrad and masters in English at the University of Dhaka.^[2]

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.^[5] 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.^[11] 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.^[15]

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.^[2] 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]

After the fall of the Sheikh Hasina led Awami League government, a murder case was filed against Sikder by Bangladesh Nationalist Party politician Mohammad Zaman Hossain Khan over the death of a protestor in July 2024.^[20]