He attempted to escape from West Pakistan and join the Bangladesh War of Independence in then East Pakistan by hijacking a Lockheed T-33 aircraft being flown by a 20-year-old newly commissioned Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas, who was conducting his second solo flight.

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.

On 20 August 1971, Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas was scheduled to fly with a Lockheed T-33 jet trainer.

[6] Yawar A. Mazhar, a writer for Pakistan Military Consortium, relayed in 2004 that he spoke to retired PAF Group Captain Cecil Chaudhry about Minhas and that he learned more details not generally known to the public.

Chaudhry told Mazhar that he found the jet had hit the ground nose first, instantly killing Minhas in the front seat.

Chaudhry searched the area and saw Rahman's body some distance behind the jet, with severe abrasions from hitting the sand at a low angle and a high speed.

Chaudhry thought that Minhas probably jettisoned the canopy at low altitude causing Rahman to be thrown from the cockpit because he was not strapped in.

Chaudhry felt that the jet was too close to the ground at that time, too far out of control for Minhas to be able to prevent the crash.

[7] 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.

There is also a Bengali film named "Ostittey Amar Desh" based on Matiur's life, directed by "Khiljir Hayat Khan".