Hameed Baloch 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 mercenary 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 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 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 wa unhurt in the incident. The death sentence was carried out on 11th June 1981 in Mach prison, with Hameed's age being just 23 years. He wrote a will just hours before before being taken to the gallows expressing defiance, which many later compared to the execution and writings of Sacco & Vanzetti.
 

The execution left a significant impact on the Baloch nationalist movement and Balochi literature, with many poets and writers dedicating works to his memory.
 

References
 

 

• Testament of Freedom - Shaheed Hameed Baloch
   
• The Execution of Hameed Baloch
   
• “Essays on Baloch National Struggle in Pakistan Emergence Dimensions Repercurssions”, Janmahmad Baloch, 1982
   
• Documentary video about Hameed Baloch