MATIUR'S LIFE Matiur Rahman was born on October 29 1942. He joined the Pakistan Air Force in August 15, 1961 and was commissioned on June 23, 1963. Matiur left Bangladesh for West Pakistan on May 7, 1971 with his wife Milly Rahman and two minor daughters, family sources said. "I knew about his plans to defect with an aircraft," Milly Rahman told The Daily Star. On August 20, 1971 Matiur Rahman piloted a T-33 trainer aircraft from Karachi, Pakistan, towards India in an attempt to defect from the Pakistan Air Force and join the Liberation War of Bangladesh. He couldn't complete his desired mission, as the plane crashed when the other pilot Rashid Minhas tried to prevent him. "I came to know about his death on August 21," Milly Rahman said. The family of Matiur Rahman came back home on September 29 in 1971, family sources said. Matiur Rahman was awarded the title Birsreshtho, the highest gallantry award for heroic achievement in the Liberation War. An air base in Jessore is also...