Sessions Judge Abdul Hakeem Kakar was martyred in a terrorist attack in Mastung district on 23 July, while Additional District and Sessions Judge Tariq Lashari was injured in the same attack. Both judges were serving as District and Sessions Judges in Mastung, Balochistan.
Judge Abdul Hakeem Kakar belonged to Qila Saifullah district of Balochistan, although he had been residing in Quetta for many years.
The attack occurred amid a sharp escalation in terrorist violence across Mastung. Just one day before the assassination, terrorists belonging to the banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) damaged a bridge with explosives at Anjeera in the Khad Kocha area along the Quetta–Karachi Highway. Soon afterwards, BLA’s terrorist opened fire on a civilian passenger bus travelling on the same route, killing at least three passengers and injuring three others.
During the same period, a military convoy was targeted in an improvised explosive device (IED) attack in Mastung, for which the banned BLA publicly claimed responsibility. Security forces also announced the arrest of two alleged female suicide bombers said to be affiliated with the banned BLA during ongoing counterterrorism operations in the district.
Against this backdrop, the attack on Judge Abdul Hakeem Kakar and Additional Judge Tariq Lashari immediately drew widespread condemnation from across Balochistan, Pakistan. Public reaction in Balochistan against the attack created significant pressure on those associated with the BLA’s online narrative.
Although the attack was carried out by the banned BLA, the organisation did not publicly claim responsibility. Instead, the banned Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP/Daesh) unexpectedly issued a statement claiming responsibility for the assassination.
Following ISKP’s claim, social media accounts being sympathetic to the BLA, along with Nadia Baloch, sister of Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) convicted leader Mahrang Baloch, shared posts condemning the attack. Similar posts were subsequently amplified by BLA-linked social media accounts and by the group’s de facto spokesperson, Kiyya Baloch.
The coordinated online activity indicates that facilitators, enablers and supporters of the banned BLA attempted to redirect public anger toward ISKP while shielding the BLA from blame.
Journalist Hamid Mir commented on one of Nadia Baloch’s posts. However, he neither condemned the BLA nor ISKP. Instead, he referred to previous judicial decisions involving the late Judge Abdul Hakeem Kakar while mentioning Mahrang Baloch, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in connection with the killing of Sepoy Shabbir Baloch.
Hamid Mir relied on information circulated by Nadia Baloch and attempted to frame a narrative based on her claims, to divert attention away from the nexus between the BLA, ISKP, and the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC).
The objective was to shift responsibility toward ISKP, reduce public backlash against the BLA, after the assassination of a member of Pakistan’s judiciary.
The assassination of Session Judge Abdul Hakeem Kakar is the latest in a series of attacks targeting members of Pakistan’s judiciary.
In 2022, former Balochistan High Court Judge and former Chief Justice of the Federal Shariat Court Justice Noor Mohammad Maskanzai was assassinated in a terrorist attack. The banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the killing.
Earlier, in 2000, Justice Mir Muhammad Nawaz Marri, a judge of the Balochistan High Court, was also assassinated in a targeted terrorist attack.
The rapid amplification of ISKP’s claim by BYC-linked activists, Hamid Mir and pro-BLA social media accounts was not a coincidence but part of a broader effort to distance the banned BLA from an attack that provoked widespread outrage across Balochistan and Pakistan.
