Rashid Minhas was an undertraining pilot in the Pakistan Air Force. He was the youngest pilot of PAF, and the youngest one to receive the highest valor award, i.e., NISHAN E HAIDER. Minhas is a person Pakistan is proud of and a role model for the youth.
BIOGRAPHY:
The great-son of the Soil was born on 17 February,1951 in Karachi to a Muslim family. His father was a civil engineer and served in the construction management business.
EDUCATION:
Minhas received his early education at St Mary’s School and later went to St. Patrick’s High School. His father wanted him to study engineering, whereas Minhas wished to become a pilot. So, against his father, he went to PAF school in Lower Topa and then to the Air Force’s officer candidate school, and he was completing his training at the Pakistan Airforce academy.
Minhas had a great passion for becoming a pilot. He used to play with aircraft models. He was also interested in technology. It is clearly visible that he was so passionate that he became a pilot at the age of twenty.
DEATH:
On August 20,1971 while he was on his round, his jet was hijacked by his superior officer, FLIGHT LIEUTENANT MUTI U REHMAN, who was a Bengali.
He signaled Minhas to stop the jet, climbed into the plane, and sat on the instructor’s seat.
According to information, Rehaman wanted to take a jet to India to join the war of liberation of Bangladesh. Minhas tried to get back control of the plane, but he struggled physically. The jet crashed 51 km from the Indian border near THATTA Sindh, Pakistan. Both of them were killed in this incident.
Minhas was awarded Nishan e Haider, and he became the youngest officer to receive the award and the only person from PAF to receive Nishan e Haider.
Similarly, Rehman was also awarded a valour prize from Bangladesh.
Pakistan’s military stated that Minhas forced the aircraft to crash to prevent Rehaman from taking the plane to India. This is the official and most common information about his death.
A DIFFERENT INFORMATION:
A writer from the Pakistan Military said in 2004 that he talked to retired group officer Cecil Choudhary regarding the death of Rashid Minhas, and he delivered him some information that is not known publically. He told him that he immediately investigated the case and found that the jet hit the ground, killing Minhas; however, Rehman’s body was not inside, and Capony was missing. He found Rehman’s body at some distance behind the jet, and the body was severely injured by hitting the ground at a low angle at a high speed. According to Chaudry’s idea, Minhas managed to open the capony and threw Rehman out at a low altitude. Still, he could not balance the craft, and unluckily, it crashed.
LEGACY:
He was awarded Nishan e Haider and honoured as a national hero. Pakistan air base KAMRA was named as PAF base Minhas and often called Minhas KAMRA
In Karachi, a road was named Rashid Minhas road a film was made on Rashid Minhas.
POETRY ON Minhas:
“Parwaz Hai Dono kee See Aik Fiza Meh”
“Momin Ka Nishan Aur,Munafik ka Nishan Aur”
“Rashid Ke Shahadat pay hai Iqbal Ka yeh Quol”
“Kargaz ka jahan aur Hai ,Shaheen Ka jahan aur.”
This poetry of Allama Iqbal, sent by a prisoner who was a great fan of Minhas shaheed, is engraved on rashid Minhas’s gravestone. It was published in HILAL magazine.