Narsingdi Correspondent:
The 54th (Martyr’s Day) death anniversary of Bir Shrestha Flight Lieutenant Matiur Rahman, the pride of Narsingdi district. Bir Shrestha Matiur Rahman was born on October 29, 1941 at “Mobarak Lodge” at 109, Aga Sadek Road, Old Dhaka. His ancestral home was in Ramnagar village of Raipura upazila of Narsingdi district. Which is now known as Matinnagar village. He was the 6th of 9 brothers and 2 sisters. His father was Maulvi Abdus Samad, mother was Syeda Mobarkunnesa Khatun.
Bir Shrestha Matiur Rahman was admitted to Pakistan Air Force Public School in Sargodha after passing 6th grade from Dhaka Collegiate School. He successfully passed the matriculation examination with distinction in the first division. He joined the Pakistan Air Force in 1961. In 1963, he was commissioned as a pilot officer from the Risalpur PAF College.
After his commission, he was assigned as a general duty pilot to the No. 2 Squadron of the Mauripur (present-day Masrur) Air Base in Karachi. Here, he completed a conversion course on the T-33 jet aircraft. On this day in 1971, he tried to escape from the Masrur Air Base in Karachi in a T-33 training aircraft.
While serving as the Air Force Safety Officer, he knocked a trainee pilot named Rashid Minhaj unconscious and headed towards Bangladesh. When the danger message reached the enemy, four more aircraft chased Matiur Rahman. At one stage, when Minhaj, who was sitting in the seat in front of Matiur, regained consciousness, a scuffle broke out.
As a result, the aircraft crashed in Thatta, 35 miles from the Indian border. Matiur Rahman was killed after falling from his seat. His body was found intact about half a mile from the scene of the incident. Matiur Rahman was a Flight Lieutenant during the Liberation War. For his unparalleled bravery in the Liberation War, the Bangladesh government awarded him the highest national title, ‘Bir Shreshtho’.
The Pakistani government buried Matiur Rahman’s body in the fourth class graveyard of Masrur Base in Karachi. Later, on June 24, 2006, the remains of Bir Shreshtho Matiur Rahman were brought back to Bangladesh from Pakistan. Later, he was reburied with full honors on June 25 at the Shaheed Buddhijibi Graveyard.