Naheed Akhtar (also spelled Nahid Akhtar) is a Pakistani playback singer. She was discovered by veteran musician M Ashraf in the mid-1970s as a teenager. Initially, Naheed Akhtar was a replacement of Runa Laila, who had left Pakistan the same year to go to Bangladesh but soon Naheed Akhtar became a well established artist and one of the most famous singers in her own right in Pakistan. Her debut film was Nanha Farishta in 1974 and that same year she sang songs in the film Shama.Increasingly, though, Naheed Akhtar became more interested in building a career as a film playback singer compared to a career at Pakistan Television where she was first working.She ended up having a very successful career as a film playback singer for Pakistani films in the 1970s and early 1980s.