Hameed Baloch
Hameed Baloch (Urdu: حمید بلوچ) was an activist for the Baloch Students Organization (BSO) who was executed by the Pakistani government in 1981, and is regarded as a heroic martyr by Baloch nationalists. He was arrested on 9 December 1979, while he was a student at Government Degree College Turbat, on charges of firing at a military officer from the Gulf state of Oman who was recruiting Pakistani Baloch soldiers from Balochistan province to suppress the Dhofar Rebellion. Oman at the time was facing a Marxist–Leninist insurgency in its Dhofar province. Ever since Oman took control of the Balochistan enclave of Gwadar in the 18th Century (now under Pakistani control), it had hired foot soldiers from Balochistan to serve in the Sultan of Oman's Armed Forces.
The BSO, being a leftist organization, was opposed to the recruitment to fight against the Dhofari rebels, whose ideology it shared, fearing it would earn notoriety for the Baloch in the eyes of progressive forces throughout the world and weaken the Baloch nationalist movement in Pakistan. Secondly they saw it as aiming to 'pervert' the youth in Baloch society against Marxist–Leninist teachings by offering huge salaries for their services in a mercenary army.
Hameed was tried by a special military Court and condemned to death, even though the Omani officer was unhurt in the incident. The death sentence was carried out on 11 June 1981 in Mach prison, with Hameed's age being just 23 years. He wrote a will just hours before being taken to the gallows expressing defiance.
The execution left a significant impact on the Baloch nationalist movement and Balochi literature, with many ethnic-nationalist poets and writers dedicating works to his memory.
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