Professor CR Abrar of Dhaka University (DU) has been sworn in as a new member of the Interim Government Advisory Council.

Professor CR Abrar is being appointed as an adviser to the interim government.

He will take oath as the new adviser at 11 am on Wednesday (March 5).

The Chief Adviser's Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam gave this information at a press conference at the Foreign Service Academy on Hare Road in the capital on Tuesday. He said that Professor CR Abrar will serve as an adviser to the Ministry of Education. Currently, Professor Wahiduddin Mahmud is the Education Adviser.

After the addition of a new adviser, the total number of advisers, including the Chief Adviser, in the interim government will be 23.

Sheikh Hasina resigned from the post of Prime Minister on August 5 and fled to India in the mass uprising of students and the public. The next day, the President dissolved the 12th National Parliament. Then, the interim government took oath on August 8.

Then Dr. Muhammad Yunus took charge as the chief adviser to the interim government. At that time, 16 advisers were appointed. Three advisers could not take the oath on that day as they were out of Dhaka and the country. They took the oath later. Later, four more advisers joined the interim government. The last three advisers joined on November 10. It is worth noting that on December 20 last year, Aviation, Tourism and Land Adviser AF Hasan Arif died. The last adviser to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology, Md. Nahid Islam resigned to join a new political party on February 25. Since then, there have been a total of 22 advisers in the government, including the chief adviser. 

After confusion about the total amount of books sold at the Ekushey Book Fair-2025, Bangla Academy has finally given the book sales figures 4 days after the fair ended. The organization said that the full account of book sales has not reached us yet. However, the book sales figure may not be Tk. 61 lakh, but Tk. 40 crore.

On Tuesday (March 4) evening, the academy's Facebook page gave the book sales figures.

The post said that Bangla Academy has received the book sales figures of 351 publishers out of the 703 participating in the Amar Ekushey Book Fair. Their sales amounted to about Tk. 20 crore. However, Bangla Academy believes that the total amount including the sales of the remaining publishers may be approximately Tk. 40 crore.

Meanwhile, a notice sent from the academy said that some confusion has been observed regarding the total book sales figure at the Amar Ekushey Book Fair organized by Bangla Academy. The member secretary of the fair's management committee, in his report given at the closing ceremony, had stated that Bangla Academy's own sales volume as of February 27 was around 61 lakh. But many have deliberately or unconsciously spread confusion by assuming that number as the total sales volume of the fair.

The Bangla Academy's announcement further stated that the total sales volume of Bangla Academy at the end of this fair stood at Tk. 64 lakh 76 thousand 323.  However, the book sales figures for previous years and this year at the fair are estimates based on the data received. 

A list of 1,067 Bangladeshis detained in various prisons in India in the last two to two and a half years has been found with their names and addresses. Some of the victims of disappearances may be there, said retired judge Mainul Islam Chowdhury, chairman of the Commission of Inquiry on Disappearances.

He made these remarks at a press conference at the office of the Commission of Inquiry on Disappearances on Tuesday (March 4) afternoon

He said that the commission has a list of 330 victims of disappearances. The possibility of these people returning is slim.

Mainul Islam said that a list of Bangladeshi citizens imprisoned in various prisons in India was requested. A list with the names and addresses of the detained Bangladeshis was found there. An investigation is underway to see if any of the names of the victims of disappearances are in the list received.

He said that the investigation is ongoing subject to receiving complete information from the police and BGB. However, we are aware that on December 22 last year, a missing person named Mohammad Rahmat Ullah from Dhamrai, Dhaka was pushed through the Gomostapur border in Chapainawabganj.

According to the investigation by the Missing Persons Commission, each missing person incident was directed from the highest levels of the then government. There were direct or indirect orders from the government in the disappearances that occurred at various times from 2008 to 2023. The Missing Persons Commission has so far received 1,752 complaints. Of these, the initial verification of about 1,000 complaints has been completed. The statements of 280 complainants have been recorded. The statements of about 45 officers of the law enforcement forces and intelligence agencies have been taken.

The commission said that after verifying a list of 140 people sent back to Bangladesh from India after the fall of Hasina on August 5, no trace of anyone who had disappeared there was found.