Nurjahan Murshid

Nurjahan Murshid (; 22 May 1924 – 1 September 2003) was a journalist and teacher, a Bangladesh cabinet minister, and social activist.

Early life and family Noorjahan Beg was born on 22 May 1924 to a Bengali family of Baigs in Taranagar, Murshidabad in the then British India. She was the fourth among the seven daughters of Janab Ayub Hussain Beg and Bibi Khatimunnessa. She received her early schooling at home under her father, chief of police and daroga in Lalgola, Murshidabad, under the British Police Service, and later under her paternal uncle Professor Husam Uddin Beg, who was the Principal of Brojomohun College in Barisal. She finished her secondary education with a first division at Victoria Institution, Calcutta. She received a master's degree in history from the University of Calcutta.

Work Murshid was a broadcaster for All India Radio. Notably, she was the first Muslim woman to work for this establishment. In East Pakistan, Murshid continued to work for the media, broadcasting for Radio Pakistan and rising to become a programme producer that brought her into contact with figures such as Shamsul Huda, Laila Arjumand Banu, Laila Samad, and Kamal Lohani. She became Principal of Syedunnesa Girls' High School in Barisal, and later taught at various institutions in Dhaka, such as Kamrunnessa Government Girls High School, Viqarunnisa Noon School and College and Holy Cross College. She left politics after the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the jail killings of four key cabinet ministers, including Tajuddin Ahmed, prime minister of Bangladesh in exile, and Syed Nazrul Islam, former acting president of Bangladesh, in exile in 1975.

Death and legacy Murshid was diagnosed with cancer in 2002, and died on 1 September 2003 in Dhaka.