Rashid Minhas

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Rashid Minhas or Rashid Minhas Shaheed (Urdu: راشد منہاس) (February 17, 1951–August 20, 1971) was a Pilot Officer in the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.

Minhas was born in Karachi. Having joined the air force, he was commissioned in 1971; on August 20 of that year, he was getting ready to take off in a T-33 trainer in Karachi when a Bengali Instructor pilot, Matiur Rahman, gained his way into the back of the plane. Rahman knocked out Minhas (he was originally believed to have used a blunt object, but it was later ascertained that he had used chloroform), with the intention of defecting to India in order to join the liberation movement for Bangladesh (see Bangladesh Liberation War).

In mid-flight Minhas regained consciousness, and quickly became aware of the circumstances: he was escorting a deserting PAF pilot and was quickly approaching the Indian border. Although the precise sequence of events remains a mystery, it is widely believed that the recovered Minhas made an attempt to regain control of the plane. However, Minhas couldn't regain controls given that Matiur was a much more sesoned pilot and managed to override Minhas attempts to control the flight. In the ensuing battle between the two pilots, it is believed that either Rahman crashed the plane into the ground to prevent the plane returning to the base, or Minhas did so in order to prevent Rahman from entering Indian territory. The crash site of the T-33 was later found 40 km from the Indian border.

Minhas was posthumously awarded Pakistan's top military honour, the Nishan-E-Haider, and became the youngest man and the only member of the Pakistan Air Force to win the award. However, there have been questions on awarding the Nishan-E-Haider for this achievement and believe it to be politically motivated. He also became a national hero. The Pakistan Air Force base at Kamra has been renamed in his honour.