Begum Khurshida Jahan Haq (11 August 1939 – 14 June 2006) was the Minister of Women's and Children's Affairs of

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

from 2001 to 2006, serving under her sister, Prime Minister

Khaleda Zia Begum Khaleda Zia (born August–September 1945) is a Bangladeshi politician who served as the prime minister of Bangladesh from 1991 to 1996 and again from 2001 to 2006. She was the first female prime minister of Bangladesh and the second fema ...

. During her term in office, she worked to curb

human trafficking Human trafficking is the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving individuals through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploitation. This exploitation may include forced labor, sexual slavery, or oth ...

of women and children in

, as well as to provide programs and services to rehabilitate former victims of

Early life and education

Khurshid Jahan Haq was born on 11 August 1939 in Balaburi, in the Dinajpur District of the

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal until 1937, later the Bengal Province, was the largest of all three presidencies of British India during Company rule in India, Company rule and later a Provinces o ...

. She belonged to a

Bengali Muslim Bengali Muslims (; ) 'Mussalman'' also used in this work./ref> are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. Comprising over 70% of the global Bengali population, they are the second-largest ...

family with origins in Fulgazi,

Feni District Feni District () is a coastal Districts of Bangladesh, district situated in the south-east of Bangladesh, within Chittagong Division. One of Bangladesh's smallest districts, it is strategically located along the N1 (Bangladesh), Dhaka–Chittago ...

. She was the daughter of tea-businessman Iskandar Ali Majumder, who was in turn the son of Salamat Ali Majumdar, who was the son of Azgar Ali Majumdar, who was the son of Nahar Muhammad Khan, who was the son of Murad Khan, a 16th-century Middle Eastern immigrant. Her mother, Taiyaba Majumder, was from Chandbari (now in

Uttar Dinajpur District Uttar Dinajpur (), also known as North Dinajpur, is one of the 23 districts of the state of West Bengal in India. The district is the part of Malda Division. Raiganj city is the headquarters of the district. This district bifurcated on 1 Apri ...

). After matriculation from the local schools, she attended Kumudini College where she received a BA degree in 1958. During her college years, she was active in student government and served as Secretary of the Students' Union in 1956–57.

Career

Jahan served as a vice-chairmen of

Bangladesh Nationalist Party The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (), popularly abbreviated as BNP (), is a major List of political parties in Bangladesh, political party in Bangladesh. It was founded on 1 September 1978 by President of Bangladesh, President Ziaur Rahman, wit ...

, and in 1991 was named as a Member of

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

(MP) in the reserved seat for women. She was later twice re-elected as MP from the Dinajpur-3 constituency, in

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

and

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

. She was given the position of Minister of Women's and Children's Affairs on 10 October 2001, and held the position until her death in 2006.

References

1939 births 2006 deaths Women members of the Jatiya Sangsad Bangladesh Nationalist Party politicians 20th-century Bangladeshi women politicians 21st-century women politicians 5th Jatiya Sangsad members 7th Jatiya Sangsad members 8th Jatiya Sangsad members Ministers of women and children affairs of Bangladesh People from Dinajpur District, Bangladesh Politicians from Rangpur Division People from Fulgazi Upazila Politicians from Chittagong Division 21st-century Bangladeshi women politicians Majumder–Zia family {{BangladeshNationalistParty-politician-stub