ONLY the good die young, says the sage of our age, Bob Dylan. The Nation's correspondent Raja Assad Hameed more than vindicated Dylan's lyric. Across the funeral yard in Islamabad where he was laid to rest were scores upon scores of people who had come to pay their respects to a man who had endeared himself to them through his humble demeanour and professionalism. Mr Hameed, who was shot dead outside his house, had a very good rapport with the entire journalistic fraternity and, through his coverage of the judiciary, the legal community, many of whom were present at his funeral. A regrettable lack of depth sometime creeps into coverage of the economy and the law in local journalism. But there was no surface understanding of issues when it came to Raja Assad Hameed. A qualified lawyer in his own right, he was deep in the thick of legal theory, spouting out clauses and cases on the spot. It was difficult for a lawyer or a legal officer to pull the wool over his eyes. He knew what the issue was. This is not to imply that he was as dry as the legalese he was so fluent in; possessing a keen sense of humour, he came out with a column titled Courtly Quips from the time when the initial reference against the now reinstated Chief Justice was referred to the Supreme Judicial Council. Though he was particularly spirited when it came to the lawyers' movement, he never lost his objectivity and always made sure the other side's views also got aired. Raja Assad Hameed's murder is clearly no street crime. His assailants were waiting for him outside his house. It was premeditated. It is necessary for the authorities to follow up this case and make sure the perpetrators are brought to justice. Only recently did the international Committee to Protect Journalists place Pakistan amongst the list of countries with a bad track record for journalist killings. The CPJ had classified the list as those countries with five or more unsolved journalist murders. Mr Hameed's case, if left unsolved, would be the eleventh this decade in Pakistan. Regardless of whether it was his fearless reporting or something else that motivated this murder, retribution is the need of the hour.