Matiur Rahman

Matiur Rahman (died 20 August 1971) was a flight lieutenant of Pakistan Air Force and a recipient of Bir Sreshtho, Bangladesh's highest military gallantry award for his actions during the Liberation War of Bangladesh.

He attempted to escape from Pakistan and join the Bangladesh Liberation War by hijacking a Lockheed T-33 aircraft which was being flown by a 21 year old Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas, who was conducting his second solo flight. Rahman stopped the aircraft on the runway, Got some Jet Fuel on some cloth and climbed into the cockpit and steered the aircraft toward the Indian border,He also tried to faint the student with jet fuel scented cloth but Rashid Minhas fought against him through the mechanically linked controls. Mati being a superior took superior control and steered the jet towards India, Rashid Minhas saw situations out of his control and he knew that if Mati will be successful it would be a great loss for Pakistan Air Force so he took control again with bleeding nose and declined the jet resulting in a crash few kilometres from Indo-Pak border, killing him and Rahman keeping rich traditions of his country. Later on search mission was conducted and the wrekage was found.For such heroic acts, Rashid Minhas was decorated with Nishan-e-Haider, the highest gallantry award of Pakistan. For Rahman's support to the state of Bangladesh, he was decorated by Bangladesh with the Bir Sreshtho award.

Matiur Rahman completed his primary education at Dhaka Collegiate School. After that he was admitted into Pakistan Air Force School Sargodha in West Pakistan. On 15 August 1961, he joined the Pakistan Air Force Academy (then Pakistan Air Force College) at Risalpur. On 22 June 1963, Matiur Rahman was commissioned as a pilot officer from the 36th GD(P) Course and was posted at No. 2 Squadron of Mauripur Air Base (now Masroor) at Karachi in West Pakistan. After that he successfully completed the Jet Conversion Training on T-33 jet trainers in that base. He successfully passed the course with a mark of 75.66% and was earmarked for Fighter Conversion Training. Fighter Conversion Training took place in F-86 Sabre Jets, this course he passed with a mark of 81%. He was posted in Peshawar (in No.19 Squadron) due to his bright result in the Fighter Conversion Course.

His rank was Flying Officer during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. After the war, he went back to Sargodha to attend the Mig Conversion Course. He was promoted to the rank of Flight Lieutenant in 1967.

Flight Lieutenant Matiur Rahman smuggled the family of Group Captain Taher Quddus on Royal Saudi Arabian C-130 transport plane bound for Riyadh during the liberation war of Bangladesh. Matiur Rahman and his family went to Dhaka for a two-month vacation at the end of January 1971. He was staying in the village of Ramanagar in Raypur during the military operation of 25 March 1971 conducted by the Pakistan army in the name of Operation Searchlight. Despite being a member of the PAF, Rahman opened a training camp in Vairab and started training Bengali people who were willing to join the Mukti Bahini. He formed a small defence force with the willing members and a few collected weapons. His camp was bombed by the PAF on 14 April 1971. But Rahman anticipated the attack beforehand and changed the place of his camp. Thus, his crew and he was saved from the bombing. Rahman returned to Dhaka on 23 April and then returned to Karachi on 9 May with his family.

Matiur Rahman was an instructor pilot at PAF Base Masroor in 1971. He was planning to defect to India with a plane to join the Bangladesh Liberation War. On 20 August 1971, Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas was scheduled to fly with a Lockheed T-33 training plane.Rahman saw Minhas about to take off and asked to join him, he jumped into the instructor seat. He attempted to hijack the T-33 in midair from Karachi, Pakistan to India to join the liberation movement. Minhas sent a message to control tower that he has been hijacked. Minhas wrestled with Rahman for control and crashed the plane in Pakistan's territory which caused the death of both pilots. The plane never crossed into India's airspace and crashed near the border but in Pakistan.

After over 30 years of negotiations, Rahman's body was finally returned to Bangladesh on 24 June 2006 for a ceremonial and highly symbolic reburial in 2006. Pakistani foreign ministry spokesperson Tasneem Aslam described it as a 'goodwill gesture'. He was buried at the Martyred Intellectuals Graveyard, in Mirpur, Dhaka, with full military honours. His original burial in a grave in fourth class employees graveyard in Pakistan and the hanging of his photo at the entrance of Mashrur Airbase identifying him as a Traitor had been a sore point between Bangladesh and Pakistan for decades.

There is a docudrama based on Matiur's life named Ognibolaka where Bangladeshi film actor Riaz has acted in the role of Matiur and television actress Tarin played the role of his wife Mili. There have a Bengali film named "Ostistte Amar Desh" based on Matiur's life, directed by "khiljir hayat khan". His wife "Mili Rahman" was co-writer of this film and also acted here.

The Bangladesh Air Force's Air Base at Jessore is also named after him. The air force also gives out a trophy named after him for best performance in the flying training. Birshreshto Matiur Rahman trophy (a.k.a. Golden Pen award), named after him, is also awarded for the best Individual Research Paper of Air Wing in Defence Services Command and Staff College. Dining halls in the Cadet Colleges of Bangladesh are also named after him.