Perveen
Shakir's poem about Rashid Minhas
On
Friday, 20th August, 1971, the jet trainer of the 20-year-old Pilot
Officer Rashid Minhas, still under training, was attempted to be
hijacked by an instructor pilot from the same unit, who wanted to
join the Bengaldesh Libration Army in India. Left with only once
way of stopping the aircract from entering the Indian territory,
Minhas forced his own aircraft to crash at a point some 32 miles
from the Indian border. He was posthumously awared the highest military
award, Nishan-i-Haider and remains one of the best-loved heroes
in Pakistan.
Apparently this poem was written soon after
the incident in 1971.
Rashid Minhas
Source: Press clippings in
the family archives of Rashid Minhas
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