Pakistan, July 25 -- A terrorist does not assassinate a judge merely to kill a man. He fires at the very idea that violence can be brought before the law.

That is why the July 23 assassination of District and Sessions Judge Abdul Hakeem Kakar in Mastung cannot be treated as one more entry in Balochistan's growing register of bloodshed. Judge Kakar was travelling from Quetta to perform his official duties when gunmen attacked the judicial officers' vehicles near the Wali Khan crossing. His police guard was also martyred, while Additional Sessions Judge Tariq Lashari and another person were critically injured.

The assassins were not confronting an armed convoy in a battlefield. They were attacking men travelling to a courtroom.

By attack...