EVEN for a city as inured to crime and violence as Karachi, the abduction on Tuesday of Awais Ali Shah, the son of Sindh High Court Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, was a shocking occurrence.

The young man, a lawyer, was kidnapped in broad daylight by four masked men in Clifton, one of the most upmarket and high-security areas in the metropolis.

His abductors, riding in a car bearing a police number plate, were armed with Kalashnikovs and wearing camouflage uniforms and police caps.

Within a few hours, as soon as the high-profile nature of the case became clear, the city’s law-enforcement apparatus sprang into action. Raids are being carried out in various parts of Karachi and, at the time of writing, around two dozen suspects had reportedly been rounded up.

First, to the obvious question: motive. Given the identity of the victim and the circumstances of his abduction, this is clearly no run-of-the-mill kidnapping, but a carefully planned, targeted operation for reasons not quite as clear as the daylight in which the crime was committed. In fact, the police seem to believe that prima facie ransom is not the objective.

Aside from personal enmity — which appears unlikely, given the dramatic modus operandi — the only other plausible explanation is that the abductors by their actions hope to influence the judiciary’s conduct and undermine its impartiality in certain cases.

Although the cases of allegedly ‘jet-black terrorists’ are being sent to military courts, the vast majority of terrorism cases are being handled by the criminal justice system. Moreover, the high courts and the Supreme Court have the jurisdiction to review any sentence passed by a military court.

Thus — and this brings us to the possible perpetrators — militant groups have an obvious stake in being able to put pressure on the law-enforcement system.

However, the audacious manner in which the kidnapping was carried out — unnecessarily risky, given it could have been achieved in a far more low-key style on some quiet street — suggests a curious arrogance.

One could even say it smacks of a challenge thrown to law-enforcement agencies. Who could have undertaken such a brazen operation?

The kidnapping also highlights the necessity of having mandatory security protocols in place not only for the individuals representing institutions of a sensitive nature, but their close family members as well. It would help avoid compromising situations such as the one that may have arisen with this abduction.

Lastly, a word about the electronic media that, instead of exercising restraint and good judgment, is reporting on the police raids in search of the victim in a manner that could put his life at risk.

Instead of speculation, television channels should base their coverage on information conveyed by law-enforcement agencies, who in turn, it must be said, should keep an anxious public in the loop as far as possible.

Published in Dawn, June 23rd, 2016