Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas NH was a Pakistani 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 a routine training mission in August 1971, Minhas attempted to gain control of his jet trainer when his superior officer Flight Lieutenant Matiur Rahman hijacked the plane in an attempt to defect to India to join the Liberation war of Bangladesh but crashed near the Thatta District, Sindh in Pakistan.
Grave of Rashid Minhas in Karachi
Nishan-e-Haider, is the highest military gallantry award of Pakistan. The Nishan-e-Haider is awarded posthumously and only to members of the Pakistan Armed Forces. It recognises the highest acts of extraordinary bravery in the face of the enemy in air, land, or sea. It has been awarded only 11 times since Pakistan's independence in 1947.
Obverse of the Nishan-e-Haider