Pakistan, July 24 -- The assassination of District and Sessions Judge Abdul Hakim Kakar and his security guard on the road to Mastung cannot - and should not - be reduced to yet another grim statistic from a province where terrorist violence has, with alarming frequency, sought to turn every semblance of normal life into a theatre of fear. A judge travelling to discharge his constitutional duty was targeted because the very idea of law, particularly when it is institutional, impartial and superior to the gun, remains an obstacle for those who wish to hold Balochistan hostage to violence.

To attack a judge is to send a message not merely to one court or district, but to every judicial officer expected to hear sensitive cases, every prosec...