Officials and staff members of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) on Sunday returned to duties, ending a standoff with their chief after a lawsuit was filed against them.
The BSEC Officers’ Welfare Association called off a work boycott programme, enforced on the last working day on Thursday, to “protect the country’s capital markets amid ongoing market fragilities and preserve the markets’ reputation at the global stage.”
On Wednesday, the officers confined BSEC Chairman Khondoker Rashed Maqsood and three BSEC commissioners to their offices in protest against Rashed Maqsood’s removal of previous executive director Saifur Rahman through a “forced retirement order.”
The agitating officers also cut electricity supplies to the main building and CCTV recording connections. The army later rescued the BSEC top brass from confinement, but the operation left some staff members injured, prompting them to call for Rashed Maqsood’s resignation and an indefinite work boycott.
The following day, Rashed Maqsood’s gunman Ashikur Rahman filed a case with the Sher-E-Bangla Nagar Police Station against 16 BSEC officials and staff. Many of these accused individuals also returned to duties on Sunday.
bd-pratidin/GR
