The new high commissioner of the Republic of Bangladesh to Pakistan, Mrs Yasmeen Murshed, was born in Calcutta on May 19, 1945, the eldest child of Khwaja and Begum Binoo Zakiuddin. Her father was a distinguished central banker and her family had long associations with public service and political life in South Asia.
Mrs Murshed had her early education at the Viqar-un-Nisa Noon School in Dhaka. Subsequently, she completed her bachelor of arts degree in English and master’s degree in Economics at the University of the Punjab.
Mrs Murshed began her career in education as a teacher in various institutions such as the Karachi Grammar School, the Islamabad Model School for Girls and the Government College for Women, Islamabad. After returning to Bangladesh, soon after liberation, she established Scholastica, an English medium high school, and was the chairperson of the board of management of this premier chain of schools in the private sector in Bangladesh.
Mrs Murshed was also the chairperson of Etcetera Bangladesh (private) Limited, Office and Home Solutions (private) Limited, Scholastica Transport Services (private) Limited, Printcraft Company Limited and a training and development institution known as Services for Professional Education and Enterprise Development (Speed).
Mrs Murshed has represented Bangladesh at a number of important international conferences and meetings such as the Sixth International Conference of the Association for Women in Development (Washington, 1993), Strategic Planning Meeting of the Asia Pacific Women in Politics Network (APWIP) (Bangkok, 1964) and Muslim Women’s Conference (Washington, 1996).
Mrs Murshed was a member of the Ascent Education Development Trust (AEDT), Education, Science, Technology and Cultural Development Trust (ESTCDT), Standard Chartered-Financial Express Corporate Social Responsibility Trust, International Chamber of Commerce and the Commonwealth Society of Bangladesh. Mrs Murshed was a director of United Insurance Company Ltd and the Chittagong Stock Exchange.
Mrs Murshed has a number of publications to her credit. They include an article in the Journal of Democracy in 1997 titled ‘Bangladesh’s Second Chance’, several textbooks on Economics and Islamic Studies as well as articles for newspapers and magazines. She wrote a well-reputed column on books for the prestigious Dhaka newspaper, The Daily Star.
She was appointed adviser to the caretaker government on 31 October 2006 and was in charge of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, Ministry of Primary and Mass Education and Ministry of Social Welfare. Mrs. Murshed has two children, Syed Maher Murshed and Syeda Madiha Murshed.
