Rashid Minhas

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.

17 February 1951

Born on the same birth day (17 February): Anders Jacobsen (ski jumper) • Angela Eagle • Hal Holbrook • Huey P. Newton • Ivo Caprino • Jibanananda Das • John Cooke (Royal Navy officer) • Joseph Bech • Louisa Lawson • Marianne St-Gelais • Miki Berkovich • Richard Henry Park • Ron Goodwin • Shahrnush Parsipur • Tommy Edwards • Wu Zetian

Born in the same month (February 1951): Carl A. Anderson • Debbie Friedman • Don Quarrie • Eddie Dibbs • Edward Albert • Ellen Greene • Michael Ruppert • Nikolay Merkushkin • Phil Neal • Randy California • Sonny Landreth • Steve Harley • Terry Gross • William Katt