Inter-service Public Relations (ISPR) said in a Twitter post: “Today we remember the biggest victim of pilot Rashid Minha's on-call Shaheed (Nishan-e-Haider). Pilot officer Rashid Minhas fulfilled the great traditions of Pakistani air defense in the service of the mother country. "
Today we remember supreme sacrifice of Pilot officer Rashid Minhas Shaheed (Nishan-e -Haider) in the line of duty. Pilot officer Rashid Minhas lived up to great traditions of Pakistan Air Force serving the motherland.#OurMartyrsOurHeroes
— DG ISPR (@OfficialDGISPR) August 19, 2020
On August 20, 1971, Rashid Minhas was ready to fly solo in a T-33 jet trainer - he had started his engines and performed all checks. While he taxied up the runway, his flight instructor stopped him. Rashid thought his flight instructor would give him last-minute instructions and stopped the jet.
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When the flight instructor saw the opportunity, he forced himself into the cockpit and took over the flight. Rashid Minhas saw that the flight was being sent to India and informed the Masroor Control Tower that it had been kidnapped.
Both men tried to take over the flight and overpowered each other. About 51 km from the Indian border, Rashid Minhas deliberately jumped the plane in the nose and the jet crashed at Thatta.
He was posthumously awarded the highest award in the military, Nishan-e-Haider, for bravery. He became the youngest in history and the only member of the Pakistan Air Force to receive this award for excellence.
Minhas was honored as a national hero. In memory of Pakistan's air force base in Kamra, it was renamed PAF Base Minhas. In Karachi. He was honored with the name "Rashid Minhas Road".
