Pakistani pilot officer Rashid Minhas Shaheed’s ancestors were not Muslims. The series of sacrifices of the Minhas family on the path of truth begins from the time when this family entered the circle of Islam, ignoring the overwhelming majority of Hindus in Jammu and Kashmir, acknowledging the oneness of Allah and the unity of the people.
At the time of conversion to Islam, four villages were the property of this family and their property included hundreds of acres of agricultural land, but as soon as they accepted Islam, their former co-religionists, Hindus, began to subject this family to their brutality and brutality. When it became difficult to live in Jammu and Kashmir, this family sacrificed everything and migrated to Gurdaspur and after staying there for some time, the family migrated to “Fort Subasingh” in Sialkot.
Abdul Majeed Minhas, the father of Rashid Minhas, settled in the Malir Cantt area of Karachi after his marriage and here on February 17, 1951, after three daughters, Allah gave him a son who will always be proud of Pakistani nation. Rashid Minhas had four sisters and two brothers.
Rashid Minhas’ first education was in his mother’s lap, who played a key role in shaping her son into an unforgettable pilot. After receiving his primary education in Lahore and Rawalpindi, he passed the Senior Cambridge College Examination from St. Patrick’s College, Karachi with distinction. Shame and modesty were reflected on the face of Rashid Minhas. He was the epitome of modesty and modesty at a very young age. Studying was his best pastime. Because of this hobby, he built a small library of his own, which contained books written on the most important figures, Islamic heroes, war events, and information, Tipu Sultan, Napoleon, Mao Zedong, Churchill, and Lenin.
In childhood, children play with different toys, but Rashid Minhas loved only airplanes. From his childhood, he had a special interest in model ships and their machinery and used to spend his entire pocket money on this hobby. If he saw a picture of a ship anywhere in a newspaper or magazine, he would cut it out and keep it with him. He had pictures of brave soldiers of the Pakistan Army and Pakistan Air Force installed in his room. In one of the pictures, Air Force Shaheen late MM Alam was holding a cup of tea near his plane. In this photo, Rashid Minhas wrote that “the enemy is very afraid of this young man because he beat him badly in the war of September 1965.”
If the personal sketch of Rashid Minhas is drawn keeping in mind the events and hobbies of his early life, it is clear that the love of becoming a pilot and flying a plane had taken an obsessive form in his personality since his childhood. He would dream of joining the Pakistan Air Force with open eyes. After passing the senior Cambridge examination, he passed the ISSB examination and went to Kohat for training at the age of 17. There, his unique abilities came to the fore during training. Then they were sent to Risalpur for further training where Rashid Minhas completed flight training, judo, and self-defense courses. In this way, he became a pilot on August 15, 1971, at the age of 20 after achieving success in all stages.
On Friday, August 20, 1971, three pilot officers were standing ready for a training flight at Masroor Airbase Karachi. There were 3.3 minutes between the three flights. Rashid Minhas, after getting clearance from the control tower, started piloting the plane on the runway, when his instructor Matiur Rahman approached the tarmac and got out of his Opel car and signaled to stop with a specific danger signal. Rashid Minhas was unaware of Muti-ur-Rahman’s dangerous ambitions.
They asked the reason for stopping the plane, but Mutiur Rahman occupied the back seat without giving any answer. Since it was a solo flight of Rashid Minhas, for a moment Rashid was surprised by this sudden move of the instructor but the next moment he realized the dangerous intentions of the instructor. As soon as Mutiur Rahman sat on the plane, he sent a message to his colleagues that he was taking the plane to Jodhpur (India). This phrase of the instructor made the situation clear to Rashid Minhas.
The instructor took control and ran the plane on the runway while Rashid Minhas was trying to stop the plane on the runway, then he contacted the Maripur control tower and gave a message that “I am being hijacked, you Don’t let the traitors accomplices take refuge in the Indian High Commission. They were instructed by the control room not to allow the plane to enter Indian territory.
Mutiur Rahman was forcing Rashid Minhas to keep the flight low and go to the Indian airport Jamnagar while Rashid Minhas was trying to take the plane to a higher altitude but the treacherous instructor did not allow it and the plane was only 30, 40 feet from the ground. It was flying high. “I am being hijacked and I will not allow the plane to be hijacked,” said Rashid Minhas, before losing contact with the control tower.
Rashid Minhas, instead of going to the enemy’s territory alive, destroyed the plane 32 miles from the Indian border near Thatta, i.e. on his land, and gave a message to India on behalf of the Pakistani forces that “You lose even if you are alive.” We win even when we die.” Thus ended the war between patriotism and treason. The place where this plane hit the ground was called “Jande” but now it is known as “Shaheed Dera”.
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