Re: Friday, 20th August 1971
OK - fair enough
Re: Friday, 20th August 1971
one question though ..
wasn;t there any Radio transmission from Rashid to the ATC or something..
coz i heard rumours abt the Zia-ul-Haq plane crash that all ATC radio transmision went missing after the incident (just a rumour i dont have any means to verify that)
btw has anybod read the Brig. Siddique Salik's 'main nay dhaka dubtay dekha'
Re: Friday, 20th August 1971
yes boota, there were messages sent to the ATC twice during the flight, and both times it was just a one line message from Rashid Minhas confirming his call sign and declaring a hijack. the first time when he sent the msg, the ATC asked him to confirm, as 'hijack' was smthng quite unheard of at a militray base, so the officers must have been surprised, so Rashid confirmed repeating the same message. there was no contact after that, as all was happening too quick and Mati must have changed the radio frequency and by that time Rashid must have realized what was happening and decided what he had to do, as the miles were counting fast, so there wasnt much point trying to get the ATC. he was on his own and he knew that by then.
I'm not sure about the Gen ZiaulHaq ATC recordings.
and yes, i have heard the book by Brig Sidiq Salik is very good. havent read it yet, but it's on my 'to read' list. lets see when i find it. it's not in print now i think. have you read it? i thought it was in English...?
Re: Friday, 20th August 1971
ones' hero is others villan
Re: Friday, 20th August 1971
yaar kya yaar dream pe dream le rahe ho...uth jao. Pak is a lalu nation man. Grow Up!!!!
Re: Friday, 20th August 1971
get a life son.
Re: Friday, 20th August 1971
gayyyyy hindddddddddddd LOL oops i meant jay. 
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Re: Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas; Friday, 20th August 1971
Inter-link to the story of another PAF hero Flg Off Shaheen Javed Shaheed from the same No. 2 Squadron. He was martyred exactly 30 yrs and over a month later, taking off from the same Masroor base. The heritage of glory continues!
Re: Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas; Friday, 20th August 1971
He waz a greeeeeeeeat man
Re: Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas; Friday, 20th August 1971
One man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist. Let's bury the hatchet and give them both the heroe's burial they both deserve. They were both soldiers, dont forget that. During the World War II, German general Rommel was held in high esteem in the british camp, even though he was the enemy.
Both of them were willing to fight and die for their own ideologies, however antithetical. Give them the respect.
Re: Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas; Friday, 20th August 1971
how i would become squardon leader
Re: Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas; Friday, 20th August 1971
Fatima, you'll have to join the PAF as an officer cadet and undergo training for some period, the duartion and nature of which would depend on the branch that you join. After successfully finishing the training, you'd be commisioned as an officer and given the rank of Flying Officer, being competent and professional would ensure quick promotions and in a few yrs you'd be promoted to Flight Lieutenant after which the next rank would be Squadron Leader. The next rank after that is Wing Commander.
Re: Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas; Friday, 20th August 1971
its pathetic actually..what was so great about his plan? it was stupid i think, even if he had managed to land in india he woldnt have exactly blown pakistan away with those few docments no matter how relevent thye may have been. and apart from that it sounds weird, he belonged to the PAF, Bangladesh didnt even exist until December 1971 and they give him the highest medal. poor bengalis. His grave is at the masroor base in karachi.
Tongue in cheek,
"One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter!".
YOu know who said that didn't you....?
Re: Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas; Friday, 20th August 1971
..............YOu know who said that didn't you....?
A traitor deserves a dog like death so matiur got the same.
No comparison of what this traitor tried to do with some other examples of peoplke fighting for their right. He (Mutiur) was trained by Pakistan but tried to hurt Pakistan...a very different situation.
Rashid Minhas is great and will live glorious life in Pakistani people's heart and mind and among those who can understand these kind of situations.
Long Live Pakistan and Pakistani heroes like Rashid Minhas...Ameen.
Re: Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas; Friday, 20th August 1971
** Bengali hero’s remains given back**](BBC NEWS | South Asia | Bengali hero's remains given back)
**Pakistan has agreed to hand over to Bangladesh the remains of a Bengali air force officer after 35 years.
**Flight Lieutenant M Matiur Rehman, now a decorated war hero in Bangladesh, died in August 1971.
He was killed while trying to fly away with a Pakistan air force jet, just before Bangladesh’s independence. The move follows a formal request from Bangladesh Prime Minister Begum Khalida Zia during a recent visit to Islamabad, the foreign office told the BBC. Pakistani foreign ministry spokesperson Tasneem Aslam called it a goodwill gesture, but declined to comment on the tricky issue which was linked to the Bengali air officer’s role in the struggle for the creation of Bangladesh.
An official of Bangladesh’s High Commission in Islamabad said arrangements were being finalised to take Rehman’s remains to Dhaka, but did not give any date.
War hero
Rehman was a flight lieutenant in the Pakistani air force when he attempted to hijack a jet aircraft during a training flight. Pakistan has always maintained that the trainee pilot, Rashid Minhas, prevented the attempted hijacking, which resulted in the aircraft crashing shortly before leaving Pakistani airspace on 20 August, 1971.
Both Rehman and Minhas were killed. Minhas was immediately decorated with Pakistan’s highest gallantry award, the Nishan-e-Haider, and Rehman declared a traitor. But as East Pakistan became Bangladesh in December 1971 after the country’s war with India, the newly independent state declared Rehman as one of its war heroes. He was decorated with Bangladesh’s highest military honour - the Bir Sreshtho. Once the remains are taken back to Dhaka, they will be buried with full military honours, the Bangladesh high commission official said.
It seems he is a war hero and not a traitor.
Re: Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas; Friday, 20th August 1971
When I read the news on BBC about the remains being returned I felt a bit betrayed. Nothing to do with the remains but by the fact that throughout my life, I had probably heard the story of Rashid Minhas two dozen times, from different people; at school, among family and at air force functions, and not a single one mentioned that the person who is considered to be the traitor, was a Bangladeshi and is considered a hero in that country. All I heard was that it was some nameless dude who had given his loyalty to India.
Re: Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas; Friday, 20th August 1971
I didn't know his name or his status in BD, but I knew he was Bengali.
Re: Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas; Friday, 20th August 1971
Matior betrayed trust of the nation. Well that may be forgiven. There have been many others (who are still residents of Pakistan).
However Matrior betrayed the trust of his student. A young man in the prime of his life, with hopes and dreams, possibility of becoming Air Marshal of PAF, marrying in a nice family, having kids, and all. Everything got ruined just because a weirdo wanted to take a piddly trainer jet to Bharatis.
What a moron! I hope BDeshis realize the value of "loyalty" to the service, the value of oath.
$hit he wanted to go to BDesh, he could have taken a boat trip to Bharat, hired a smuggler, or something.
There was no friggin need to take the life of a young officer, his own student.
Utter lack of balls and professionalism was the hallmark of Motior.
May he burn in hell forever for killing an innocent, bright, young man.
Re: Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas; Friday, 20th August 1971
One nation's traitor is another nation's hero.
NameinUse,
For us, Pakistanis, he is, was and will remain a traitor. That's a nationally accpeted fact. Now whether over the years we have learned to respect the enemy more, or bury the past, or accept them as liberation activists is something different, which doesnt change the basic facts that he did indulge in an act of treason and deserted his service, endangered the life of a fellow officer and student as well as caused loss of a valuable asset of his air force that had trained and fed him and his family. All these acts make him guilty and hence rightly declared a deserter and traitor.
Post Dec 1971, after Bangladesh's creation, Bangladesh decorated 7 of its uniformed men who had done something extraordinary as an act of bravery from their (Bengali) perspective in the service of the liberation effort and had sacrificed their lives. They were awarded the Bir Sreshtho their equivalent of the Nishan-i-Haider. Of the 7 Mati-ur-Rehman was also one.
So he may be a liberation war hero to them, and we may respect him for being someone else's hero but a hero nonetheless, but to us he remains a traitor.
That we have respected him for 35 yrs is evident by the fact that he was burried at a military grave yeard at Masroor Base and his grave was well looked after. Some few yrs ago his dughter was allowed a visit too. So there didnt seem much need for handing over his remains. His grave was well preserved and protected here too and was a part of our history as well.
On a diff note, all the 7 Bengali liberation heroes awarded the Bir Sreshto had indulged in similar acts of valour; only killing their fellows and regimental mates or commanders of west Pakistani origin. It wouldnt be too outrageous if it's said that Bangladesh might not have considered awarding Mati the BS out of many other possible recipients had he not been made famous due to Rashid Minhas and his being awarded the Nishan-i-Hiader and being decalred a national hero. Mati's act was not an act or impulse during war (it was August 1971) and resulted in little or no significance for the larger scheme of things (like other BS recipients) for Pakistan and the future Bangladesh.
Re: Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas; Friday, 20th August 1971
True. He was headed to India's Jamnagar air base SE of Karachi.