District and Sessions Judge Abdul Hakeem Kakar and his security guard were shot dead on Thursday after unidentified gunmen attacked their convoy near Mastung in Balochistan, while Additional Sessions Judge Tariq Lashari and another person were injured.
The judges were travelling from Quetta to Mastung when armed men opened fire on their vehicles at Wali Khan crossing, Balochistan Home Department aide Babar Yousafzai has said.
Judge Kakar and his guard were killed at the scene, while the injured men were taken to a hospital in Mastung.
Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti took notice of the attack, according to his aide for political affairs, Shahid Rind.
“All aspects will be considered. If anyone is found negligent at any point, they will not be spared,” Rind said.
He described the attack as an attempt to intimidate the judiciary, saying, “A judge was targeted only because he is from the judicial fraternity.”
Referring to the recent sentencing of leaders of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), Rind stated that the attackers wanted to send a message that judges issuing verdicts against them would be targeted. He urged a forceful response against militants and voiced support for “faceless courts”.
President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the attack, saying “the sacrifices of the martyrs will not go in vain”, while reaffirming Pakistan’s commitment to eliminating terrorism.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari also denounced the killings and expressed solidarity with the victims’ families.
The attack came a day after three people were killed and five injured in a gun attack on a Karachi-bound passenger bus in Mastung’s Khud Kocha area, where a bridge on the national highway was also blown up, prompting authorities to impose an indefinite curfew.
