Pabna: Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan has said the government will act to fast-track the trial of the perpetrator of the deplorable knife attack on Sylhet college student Khadiza Akter last Monday, in response to growing public anger across the entire nation.  

‘People have become astonished by the attack on college girl Khadiza Akter. The offender has confessed to his crime. We will take necessary steps to fast-track the trial's completion leading to appropriate punishment,’ Kamal said, while talking to reporters after inaugurating the new building of Bera Model Police Station in Pabna at noon.

As she was making her way home from college at noon Monday, Khadiza, 23, a student of Sylhet Govt Women's College, was stabbed indiscriminately across her chest and face leading to intensive blood loss in full public view by Badrul, a BCL leader at the AL student wing's Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) unit. She is now fighting for her life at a Dhaka hospital, where she had to be brought for enhanced treatment.  

The inhuman attack stemmed apparently from Khadiza's refusal to entertain Badrul's proposal of 'love', a decision only vindicated by his bestial reaction.  

It was the second such killing to gain attention on the national stage in the space of just six weeks, where the killers' motives and methods have been almost identical. On August 24th, schoolgirl Suraiya Akhter Risha was similarly attacked by one Obayedul Khan as she made her way home from the capital's Wills Little Flowers school. Risha, 15, succumbed to her injuries four days later.

Although Obayedul has been in police custody since being arrested on August 31, there is no information to suggest any progress in the case filed against him by Risha's mother, even though police say he has even confessed to the crime in custody.  

During his programme in Pabna, Asaduzzaman Khan said all kinds of militants, including Gulshan attackers, are under the surveillance of law enforcers, adding that there is no atmosphere that militants carry out any killing mission or any attack suddenly.  

Presided over by Pabna police super Alamgir Kabir, the inaugural programme was attended, among others, by former State Minister for Home Affairs Shamsul Haque Tuku, acting Inspector General of Police Mohammad Zaved Patwari and Deputy Inspector General of police (DIG) in Rajshahi range Khurshid Hossain.