Senior Joint Chief Coordinator of the National Citizen Party (NCP) Abdul Hannan Masud has issued a stern warning in response to the ongoing protests by government employees across the country’s key institutions—the Secretariat, the National Board of Revenue (NBR), and the Chattogram Port.
Referring to the strikes taking place, Masud took to his verified Facebook account on Monday afternoon to declare, “To those on strike at the Secretariat, NBR, or the port today—revolution will happen there too.”
Earlier in the day, during a party event in Chattogram, Chief Organiser for the southern region of the NCP Hasnat Abdullah echoed a similar sentiment.
He warned that if government employees continued to obstruct reform efforts and threaten the government, “The people will find alternatives to them.”
He emphasised that officials attempting to hold the government hostage by blocking reforms would only worsen the situation.
In his Facebook post, Hannan Masud accused the striking officials of trying to protect “corruption and looting,” asserting that such privileges would no longer be tolerated in the post-2024 political climate.
He held them complicit in the enforced disappearances, murders, corruption, and money laundering that occurred under the administration of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
“Don’t think you’ve gotten away,” he wrote. “Let me reiterate: there is no escape.”
He also called on the government to immediately remove corrupt officials and conduct impartial investigations through an independent commission.
The recent wave of protests emerged after the Advisory Council approved a draft ordinance to amend the Public Service Act, which aims to make it easier and faster to discipline government employees.
Civil servants, however, strongly opposed the move, claiming it violates the Constitution and amounts to a repressive, punitive law.
Despite their resistance and day-long demonstrations at the Secretariat on Sunday and Monday, the ordinance was signed into effect by the President.
Simultaneously, a separate protest movement erupted within the NBR following the government’s issuance of the “Revenue Policy and Revenue Administration Ordinance, 2025” on 12 May.
The ordinance effectively split the revenue board into two entities, prompting employees to launch sit-ins and pen-down strikes demanding its cancellation.
While the government later promised to consider their demands, NBR staff called off their strike on Sunday night.
However, the NBR Reform Unity Council, which led the protests, has given the government three days to remove the current NBR chairman.
Meanwhile, in Chattogram, protests also flared at the country’s principal port.
Members of the nationalist labour organisation “Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal” staged rallies and demonstrations opposing the government’s decision to lease out the New Mooring Container Terminal to foreign entities.
Later in the day, they protesters called off the programme for now ahead of the upcoming Eid-ul-Adha.
As discontent brews across some of the country’s most vital state institutions, political observers are watching closely to see how the government manages the rising tension and mounting pressure from within its bureaucratic and operational infrastructure.