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{{Short description|Pakistani pilot officer (1951–1971)}}
{{Use Pakistani English|date=October 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2022}}
{{Infobox military person
| honorific_prefix = [[Pilot Officer]]
| honorific_suffix = [[Nishan-e-Haider|NH]]
| name = Rashid Minhas
| image = Rashidminhas.jpg
| image_upright =
| alt =
| caption =
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| birth_name =
| other_name =
| nickname =
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1951|02|17}}
| birth_place = [[Karachi]], [[Sindh]], Pakistan
| death_date = {{death date and age|1971|08|20|1951|02|17|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Thatta District]] (now [[Sujawal District]]), Pakistan
| placeofburial = Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan
| placeofburial_label =
| placeofburial_coordinates = 
| allegiance = {{PAK}}
| branch = {{air force|Pakistan}}
| branch_label = Service/branch
| serviceyears = 13 March 1971 - 20 August 1971
| serviceyears_label =
| rank =  [[Pilot officer]] 
| rank_label =
| servicenumber = Pak/5602
| unit = [[No. 2 Squadron (Pakistan Air Force)|No. 2 Squadron ''Minhasians'']]
| commands =
| battles = [[Pakistani Civil War]]{{KIA}}
| battles_label =
| awards = [[File:Nishan-e-Haider.png|80px]] [[Nishan-e-Haider]]
| memorials =
| spouse = 
| children =
| relations =
| laterwork =
| signature =
| signature_size =
| signature_alt =
| website = {{cite web|url=https://pakistanarmy.gov.pk/Pilot-Officer-Rashid-Minhas.php|title=Rashid Minhas (Shaheed)}}
| module =
| alma_mater = [[St Patrick's High School, Karachi]]
}}

[[Pilot Officer]] '''Rashid Minhas''' {{small|[[Nishan-e-Haider|'''NH''']]}} ({{lang-ur|{{Nastaliq|راشد منہاس}}}}) was a Pakistani [[military pilot|pilot]] in the [[Pakistan Air Force]]. Minhas was the only PAF officer to receive the highest valour award, the [[Nishan-e-Haider]]. He was also the youngest person and the shortest-serving officer to have received this award. During the routine training mission in August 1971, Minhas attempted to gain control of his [[jet trainer]] when his superior officer [[Flight Lieutenant]] [[Matiur Rahman (military pilot)|Matiur Rahman]] hijacked his plane and was trying to [[Defection|defect]] to India to join the [[Liberation war of Bangladesh]] which then [[Crash landing|crashed]] near the [[Thatta District, Sindh]] in Pakistan.

==Biography==
Rashid Minhas was born on 17 February 1951, in Karachi to a [[Punjabi Muslim]] [[Muslim Rajputs|Rajput]] family<ref name=ancestry3>{{cite web|url=http://pakistan.onepakistan.com.pk/news/city/islamabad/238680-national-hero-rashid-minhas-remembered-on-his-death-anniversary.html|title=National Hero RashidMinhas|publisher=OnePakistan|access-date=18 July 2022}}</ref><ref name=ancestry4>{{cite web|url=http://www.saach.tv/2013/08/20/martyrdom-anniversary-of-rashid-minhas/|title=Rashid Minhas death anniversary|publisher=Saach Tv|access-date=18 July 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140725154654/http://www.saach.tv/2013/08/20/martyrdom-anniversary-of-rashid-minhas/|archive-date=25 July 2022}}</ref><ref name=ancestry5>{{cite web|url=http://www.samaa.tv/pakistan/20-Aug-2013/1971-war-hero-rashid-minhas-shaheed-remembered|title=1971 war hero Rashid Minhas|publisher=Samaa tv|access-date=18 July 2022}}</ref> of the [[Minhas]] clan. Rashid Minhas spent his early childhood in Karachi. Later, the family shifted to [[Rawalpindi]], and shifted back to [[Karachi]]. Minhas was fascinated with aviation history and technology. He used to collect different models of aircraft and jets. He also attended [[St Patrick's High School, Karachi]].<ref name=samaa2011>{{cite web |url=http://www.samaa.tv/newsdetail.aspx?ID=35569&CID=1 |title=Nishan-i-Haider laurelled Rashid Minhas' anniversary today |publisher=Samaa Tv |access-date=29 January 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120611011403/http://www.samaa.tv/newsdetail.aspx?ID=35569&CID=1 |archive-date=11 June 2012 }}</ref>

The ancestors of Rashid Minhas were born in [[Qila Sobha Singh, Punjab]] and later on they moved to [[Karachi]] and Rashid Minhas was born in [[Karachi]].{{citation needed|date= October 2022}} His father, Majeed Minhas, a [[Civil engineering|civil engineer]] and an alumnus of the [[NED University of Engineering and Technology|NED University]] in Karachi, was in a [[construction management]] business who later moved to [[Lahore, Punjab]], for the construction project.<ref name="urdubiography">{{cite web |last1=urdubiography |first1=urdubiography |title=Rashid Minhas: biography in Urdu |url=https://www.urdubiography.com/national-heroes/rashid-minhas.html |website=www.urdubiography.com |access-date=13 March 2019 |language=ur |date=2022}}</ref> He was educated in [[Lahore]] and took admission in the British-managed [[St Mary's Cambridge School|St. Mary's School]] in [[Rawalpindi]] when his father found an employment opportunity. But later they permanently settled in Karachi.<ref name="urdubiography"/>

He passed and qualified for his [[Senior Cambridge]] examination and performed well while finishing the [[GCE Advanced Level|O-level]] and [[GCE Advanced Level|A-level]] qualifications from the [[St Patrick's High School, Karachi|St. Patrick's High School]].<ref name=samaa2011/>{{rp|181}}<ref name="Inter-Services Public Relations, IA Malik, 2018">{{cite book |last1=Malik |first1=Imran A. |title=Moon Glade |date=2018 |publisher=Inter-Services Public Relations |location=Rawalpindi, Punj. Pakistan |isbn=9789697632022 |pages=247 |edition=1st |url=https://nadeemmalik.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/moonglade.pdf |access-date=13 March 2019 |language=en-us |chapter={{small|Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas Shaheed}}}}</ref> His father, Majeed Minhas, wanted his son, Rashid, to follow his step by attending the [[Engineering universities in Pakistan|engineering university]] and strongly desired for his son to gain a [[College degree|degree]] in [[Civil engineering|engineering]] after finishing his high schooling in Karachi.{{rp|182}}<ref name="Inter-Services Public Relations, IA Malik, 2018"/> Against the wishes of his father, Rashid entered in the [[PAF Public School Lower Topa|PAF School in Lower Topa]] in 1968, the Air Force's [[officer candidate school]], and forwarded towards completing his military training at the [[Pakistan Air Force Academy]] in 1969.{{rp|182}}<ref name="Inter-Services Public Relations, IA Malik, 2018"/>

==Death==
[[File:Rashid Minhas (4876835338).jpg|right|thumb|200px|Grave of Rashid Minhas in Karachi]][[Nishan-e-Haider|{{Gallery|File:Nishan-e-Haider Medal.png|{{small|[[Nishan-e-Haider]]}}|width=180|height=250|lines=1|align=left|mode=packed|noborder=no}}]]Having joined the air force, Minhas was commissioned on 13 March 1971, in the 51st GD(P) Course.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://defence.pk/media/paf-51st-gd-p-course.15431/|title=PAF 51st GD(P) Course.|publisher=defence.pk|access-date=6 October 2022}}</ref> He began training to become a pilot. On 20 August of that year, in the hour before noon, he was getting ready to take off in a [[T-33 Shooting Star|T-33]] jet trainer in Karachi, Pakistan.{{citation needed|date= October 2022}}

His second solo flight in that type of aircraft. Minhas was taxiing toward the runway when a [[Bengali people|Bengali]] instructor pilot, [[Flight Lieutenant]] [[Matiur Rahman (military pilot)|Matiur Rahman]], signalled him to stop and then climbed into the instructor's seat. The jet took off and Rahman turned towards India.{{citation needed|date= October 2022}}

Minhas radioed [[PAF Base Masroor]] with the message that he was being [[Aircraft hijacking|hijacked]]. The air controller requested that he resend his message and he confirmed the hijacking. Later investigation showed that Rahman intended to defect to India to join his compatriots in the [[Bangladesh Liberation War]], along with the jet trainer. In the air, Minhas struggled physically to wrest control from Rahman; both men tried to overpower the other through the mechanically linked [[Aircraft flight control system#Primary controls|flight controls]]. Some {{convert|32|mi}} from the Indian border, the jet crashed near [[Thatta]]. Both men were killed.<ref name="PAF Shaheeds">{{cite web|url=http://www.paf.gov.pk/paf_shaheeds.html |title=PAF Shaheeds |work=PAF History |publisher=Pakistan Air Force |access-date=31 January 2022}}</ref>

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. Similarly, Rahman was honoured by [[Bangladesh]] with their highest military award, the [[Bir Sreshtho]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Remembering East Pakistan —II|url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/226879/remembering-East-Pakistan-ii/|newspaper=The Express Tribune|date=9 August 2022}}</ref>

Minhas's Pakistan military citation for the Nishan-e-Haider states that he "forced the aircraft to crash" to prevent Rahman from taking the jet to India.<ref name="PAF Shaheeds"/> This is the official, popular and widely known version of how Minhas died. Yawar A. Mazhar, a writer for Pakistan Military Consortium, relayed in 2004 that he spoke to retired PAF [[Group Captain]] [[Cecil Chaudhry]] about Minhas and that he learned more details not generally known to the public. According to Mazhar, Chaudhry led the immediate task of investigating the wreckage and writing the accident report. Chaudhry told Mazhar that he found the jet had hit the ground nose first, instantly killing Minhas in the front seat. Rahman's body, however, was not in the jet and the [[Aircraft canopy|canopy]] was missing. Chaudhry searched the area and saw Rahman's body some distance behind the jet, the body found with severe abrasions from hitting the sand at a low angle and a high speed. Chaudhry thought that Minhas probably jettisoned the canopy at low altitude causing Rahman to be thrown from the cockpit because he was not strapped in. Chaudhry felt that the jet was too close to the ground at that time, too far out of control for Minhas to be able to prevent the crash.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pakdef.info/forum/showthread.php?5946-Rashid-Minhas-Story&s=de5ef68cd5f911279850111a8e226133 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120908080136/http://www.pakdef.info/forum/showthread.php?5946-Rashid-Minhas-Story&s=de5ef68cd5f911279850111a8e226133 |url-status=dead |archive-date=8 September 2012 |title=Rashid Minhas Story |last=Mazhar |first=Yawar A. |work=Military History Archive |publisher=Pakistan Military Consortium |date=1 September 2004 |access-date=31 January 2012 }}</ref>

== Legacy ==
After his death, Minhas was honoured as a national hero. In his memory, the Pakistan Air Force base at [[Kamra, Pakistan|Kamra]] was renamed [[PAF Base Minhas]], often called Minhas-Kamra. In Karachi he was honoured by the naming of a main road, 'Rashid Minhas Road'<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thenews.com.pk/article-157336-43rd-Shahadat-anniversay-of-Rashid-Minhas-being-observed-today|title = Kurram people protest road closure, arrests}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://dunyanews.tv/index.php/en/Pakistan/235692-Air-Force-Day-being-observed-with-traditional-zeal|title=Air Force Day being observed with traditional zeal | Pakistan | Dunya News}}</ref> ({{lang-ur|{{Nastaliq|شاہراہ راشد منہاس}}}}). A two-[[Pakistani rupee|rupee]] postage stamp bearing his image was issued by [[Pakistan Post]] in December 2003; 500,000 were printed.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pakpost.gov.pk/philately/stamps2003/rashid_minhas.html |title=Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas (Shaheed), Nishan-e-Haider |work=Pakistan Post|access-date=31 January 2022}}</ref>

== Awards and decorations ==
{{Infobox award|name=[[Nishan-e-Haider|Nishan-e-Haider Recipient]]|image=Nishan-e-Haider Medal.png|imagesize=105px|caption=Rashid Minhas received the [[Nishan-e-Haider]] Award|country=[[Islamic Republic of Pakistan]]|date=1971|presenter=[[Yahya Khan|President Yahya Khan]]}}
{| style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center;"
| colspan="4" |{{ribbon devices|ribbon=Nishan-e-Haider.png|width=130}}
|}
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center;"
|'''[[Nishan-e-Haider]]'''
''(Emblem of the Lion)''

'''[[Indo-Pakistani War of 1971|1971 War]]'''

'''Posthumously'''
|}

== See also ==
* Major [[Aziz Bhatti]]
* Squadron leader [[Sarfaraz Ahmed Rafiqui]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://www.pakistanarmy.gov.pk/AWPReview/TextContent309a.html?pId=176 Pilot-Officer Rashid Minhas] at Pakistan Army website

{{Nishan-e-Haider}}
{{1971 Indo-Pak War}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Minhas, Rashid}}
[[Category:1951 births]]
[[Category:1971 deaths]]
[[Category:Punjabi people]]
[[Category:St. Patrick's High School, Karachi alumni]]
[[Category:University of Karachi alumni]]
[[Category:Pakistan Air Force Academy alumni]]
[[Category:Pakistan Air Force officers]]
[[Category:People of the Bangladesh Liberation War]]
[[Category:Pakistani military personnel killed in action]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Karachi]]
[[Category:Recipients of Nishan-e-Haider]]

Rashid Minhas - Revision history

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