QUETTA: District and Sessions Judge Abdul Hakeem Kakar and his guard were gunned down on Thursday, while another judge was among two injured when they came under attack while heading to Mastung, officials said.

Judge Kakar and Additional Sessions Judge Tariq Lashari were on their way to Mastung from Quetta when unknown armed men attacked the vehicles they were in, Balochistan Home Department’s aide Babar Yousafzai told Dawn.

The armed men targeted Kakar and others at Wali Khan crossing, killing him and his guard on the spot, Yousafzai said.

He added that the two injured, including Lashari, were taken to a hospital in Mastung.

Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti has taken notice of the incident, his aide for political affairs Shahid Rind told Geo News.

“All aspects will be considered. If anyone’s negligence is found at any point, they will not be spared,” he asserted.

Referring to the killing, Rind said, “A judge was targeted only because he is from the judicial fraternity.”

“The BYC (Baloch Yakjehti Committee) leadership was sentenced in Quetta, but where was the judge targeted? In Mastung,” he noted. “The terrorists want to give a message that ‘if you give verdicts against us, we will target you’.”

Rind cautioned against “political confusions”, stressing the need to respond to terrorists with force “without any confusion”. The official voiced support for “faceless courts”.

Condemnations

President Asif Ali Zardari strongly condemned the attack and expressed his grief over the deaths of the judge and his guard.

“The sacrifices of the martyrs will not go in vain,” he said in a statement, praying for the speedy recovery of the injured.

“The nefarious aims of anti-state elements active under external patronage will never succeed,” the president asserted.

He reaffirmed that Pakistan would continue its counterterrorism efforts till the “complete eradication of the menace of terrorism”.

In his condemnation, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi extended his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families, state-run APP reported.

The minister said such “cowardly acts cannot weaken the nation’s unwavering resolve”.

He reaffirmed the government’s solidarity with the families of the martyrs, stating, “We stand with the families of the martyrs and will continue to stand by them at all times.”

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, whose party is in power in the province, also denounced the killing.

“I am sure the terrorists involved in this cowardly attack will soon be brought to justice,” he said in a statement.

Bilawal affirmed that the PPP and the judiciary stood with the people of Balochistan and the security forces fighting terrorism.

Spike in terror incidents

Thursday’s incident came a day after three people were killed and five others were injured in a gun attack on a Karachi-bound passenger bus and a bridge on the national highway was blown up in Mastung’s Khud Kocha area.

Subsequently, authorities imposed an indefinite curfew in the Khud Kocha sub-tehsil from 9pm last night.

The attack also follows security forces killing three terrorists this week in Mastung, where the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said two suicide bombers and their facilitator were also apprehended. Another seven terrorists were eliminated in Surab district.

Security concerns have heightened in Balochistan after a spate of major terrorist attacks took place earlier this month, which prompted counterterrorism operations across the province.

Among the counterterrorism efforts was Operation Shaban, in which 91 terrorists were killed between July 5 and July 16, according to security sources cited by state media. This took the tally of terrorists eliminated in operations across the province since July 5 to 129.