Bluebird-166 hijacked!

[Machbuster]

1) All four gallantry awards in the Order of Jur'at (Valour), ie NH, HJ, SJ, & TJ can be given to living or deceased personnel. However, by unwritten convention NH has been only given to martyrs, because it is apprehended that the living may not live up to the ideals of the award and might thus, debase it (eg, a public scuffle, jumping a red traffic light, defaulting on a loan, joining a political party with questionable goals ..... the list goes on).

2) For some reason, out of the four awards, the HJ is exclusively for officers, while the rest can be given to all ranks.

 

[ice_man]

Refer to the following post, I couldn't have summed it better myself:
http://www.defence.pk/forums/military-history-strategy/210962-bluebird-166-hijacked.html#post3476156

http://www.defence.pk/forums/pakist...araz-ahmed-rafiqui-hilal-e-jurat-shaheed.html

please tell me what makes Minhas "fit the criteria" and rafiqui fails to?

 

[Last Hope]

Air Cmde.(R) Kaiser Tufail is Aeronaut on pdf ???

No. The person named 'Aeronaut' is someone else, who happens to be as great fan of Air Commodore as anyone else. If you have any queries you wish to ask the author, do mention them and they would get answered.

 

[Jango]

http://www.defence.pk/forums/pakist...araz-ahmed-rafiqui-hilal-e-jurat-shaheed.html

please tell me what makes Minhas "fit the criteria" and rafiqui fails to?

I fear that you are trying to belittle the contribution of Rashid Minhas Shaheed, and are you questioning the credibility of what he did or it's merits?

Tell me, what benefits could a MES man get out of a senior officer? And secondly, it has been reported that the NH was given by Ayub Khan in a closed door discussion with the Air Chief, with only a handful of other people being present (all mentioned in the article), before his family came to know about the whole story.

Everything has it's own place in history, let it be.

 

[ice_man]

I fear that you are trying to belittle the contribution of Rashid Minhas Shaheed, and are you questioning the credibility of what he did or it's merits?

Tell me, what benefits could a MES man get out of a senior officer? And secondly, it has been reported that the NH was given by Ayub Khan in a closed door discussion with the Air Chief, with only a handful of other people being present (all mentioned in the article), before his family came to know about the whole story.

Everything has it's own place in history, let it be.

belittle??? i feel he did NOTHING of worthy and definetly nothing in war! what he did might have been a good thing worthy of HJ but definetly not worthy of Nishan-e-Haider!

 

[Machbuster]

No one is comparing the two, and I am not aware of any one who said so. Sqn Ldr Rafiqui deserved it too, but in war, gallantry awards have always been a contentious issue; some less deserving ones get a higher award and vice versa. One of the reasons is that the awards have to be announced quickly for the sake of the morale of troops and countrymen. One can't wait for the war to be over to constitute Award Committees, look for evidence, recommend nominations, and so on. So in the heat of the moment, errors can be made, especially since this is a highly emotive issue.

As for Rashid Minhas, do not overlook the fact that he was recommended for an SJ by the Air Chief, but the President felt that a higher award was merited. It won't be right to nit pick on that issue as it concerns a matter of the honour of a martyr. Let it be.

 

[SarkarRaj]

hmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

[VCheng]

............

As for Rashid Minhas, do not overlook the fact that he was recommended for an SJ by the Air Chief, but the President felt that a higher award was merited. It won't be right to nit pick on that issue as it concerns a matter of the honour of a martyr. Let it be.

The goal of awarding this particular NH was to make a political point as much as recognizing the gallantry. That is sometimes the case, and thus should let be.

 

[Jango]

belittle??? i feel he did NOTHING of worthy and definetly nothing in war! what he did might have been a good thing worthy of HJ but definetly not worthy of Nishan-e-Haider!

He tried to wrestle the control of his aircraft from the Bengali officer, and resisted attempts to take it into Indian territory, losing his life in the process.

There are multiple reasons for this award, VCheng explaining part of it.

I recommended that let's put it to rest.

 

[KRAIT]

How can we compare bravery of two soldiers ?

The pilot's decision and his Shahaadat has its own significance. One has to look at the figurative statement it makes. Many things are considered in giving these awards but giving the highest or middle one doesn't mean one was better than the other.

 

[Last Hope]

Gentlemen,

The topic over here is not Nishan-e-Haider or Sarfaraz Ahmed Rafiqui Shaheed. It focuses on the incident of Hijacking of Bluebird-166 and the courageous act of Rashid Minhas. The medal, shields or gallantry awards are less to care about when the greatest prize one can get, martyrdom, has already been achieved. Nishan-e-Haider or Hilal-e-Jurat, none do match with the might of martyrdom.

So please keep it calm, and discuss about the subjected incident.

 

[MastanKhan]

i heard somewhere that his father was very influential man and helped him secure the Nishan-e-Haider. however, i personally feel Rafiqui also deserved one.

Sir,

Minhas did not deserve the Nishan a Haider----it was rather a disgrace for the medal to be given to someone who did not follow the guideline---. Stopping on the tarmac and picking up a passenger without authorization---a passenger without a parachute---a passenger who was a bengali as well---. Bad judgement---truthfully---the bengali instructor picked him up intentionally---because of Minhas's docile nature---someone who would follow an order---even if it was illegal.

 

[MastanKhan]

Hi,

Yahya Khan may had a few extra drinks at that time and in the rush of the high---he may have blurted out what all the drunks do---take it all---give it all----.

 

[RazPaK]

Hi,

Yahya Khan may had a few extra drinks at that time and in the rush of the high---he may have blurted out what all the drunks do---take it all---give it all----.

Lol Mastan saab. You are too funny.

 

[ice_man]

Sir,

Minhas did not deserve the Nishan a Haider----it was rather a disgrace for the medal to be given to someone who did not follow the guideline---. Stopping on the tarmac and picking up a passenger without authorization---a passenger without a parachute---a passenger who was a bengali as well---. Bad judgement---truthfully---the bengali instructor picked him up intentionally---because of Minhas's docile nature---someone who would follow an order---even if it was illegal.

Mastan Sahab,

couldn't agree more.