Asif Mahmood
When terrorists kill a judge, they are not settling scores with an individual. They are sending a message to every courtroom where the writ of the state is upheld. That is what makes the assassination of District and Sessions Judge Abdul Hakeem Kakar in Mastung different from an ordinary act of terrorism.
The attack came after a series of killings across Balochistan. Five labourers were murdered in Mashkail. Three passengers lost their lives when gunmen opened fire on a bus in Khad Kocha. Before that, a woman was killed after terrorists attacked a civilian vehicle. Different places, different victims, but the same purpose: to spread fear and to convince people that no one is beyond the reach of violence.
A judge is not an ordinary public official. Governments come and go, politicians win and lose elections, but courts remain the place where the authority of the state is expressed through law. When a judge is assassinated, the attack is directed at that authority as much as at the individual.
The political backdrop also deserves attention. After Dr Mahrang Baloch was convicted by an Anti-Terrorism Court in Quetta, senior leaders of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) openly questioned the credibility of the judiciary, arguing that judges were serving the interests of the state rather than the cause of justice. Those remarks did not remain confined to political debate. They deepened an already tense atmosphere surrounding the courts.
Only weeks later, Judge Abdul Hakeem Kakar was murdered. The timing has reinforced the belief that Pakistan’s judiciary has become another target in the Balochistan Liberation Army’s campaign against the state. Over the years, the BLA has widened its list of targets. Labourers, teachers, development workers, government officials and ordinary travellers have all been attacked.
Every terrorist movement tries to achieve two things. It uses violence to spread fear, and it seeks political arguments that make its violence appear justified. One reinforces the other. That is how terrorism grows beyond the battlefield and begins to influence public opinion.
For that reason, protecting judges is no longer only a security issue. It is essential for the rule of law. A judge cannot discharge his constitutional responsibility if he has to wonder whether every journey to court may be his last.
Balochistan has paid a heavy price for decades of terrorism. The murder of Judge Abdul Hakeem Kakar shows that the conflict is entering another phase, one in which institutions themselves are being challenged. If judges can be intimidated, every other arm of the state will eventually come under similar pressure.
Pakistan’s response has to be clear. Those who carry out terrorist attacks, those who facilitate them and those who knowingly provide political cover for violence must all be dealt with under the law. The state cannot afford to leave its judiciary exposed, because the security of judges is inseparable from the authority of the state itself.