Fazlul Karim

Fazlul Karim (; September 14, 1905 – May 24, 1986) was a Bangladeshi lawyer, businessman, politician and soldier. He was the first mayor of Cox's Bazar. Early life Fazlul Karim was born in Harbang, a village in Cox's Bazar district in the province of Bengal, to Golam Quader Shikdar, a village leader and Feroza Begum on 14 September 1905. He was the elder son in a family of seven daughters and three sons. Fazlul was educated at the Harbang Union School and later moved to Government Muslim High School in Chittagong, from where he completed his matriculation. He had passed his Intermediate with science from Chittagong College and completed his B.A. and B.L. from Presidency College, Kolkata in 1923 and 1925 respectively. He started his practice as a lawyer in Calcutta Judges Court as junior lawyer of Barrister Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, who used to appoint him to deal with his civil cases in the lower courts. He found his practice as a junior lawyer so lucrative that he refused to become a Munsif when he was offered a post by the Lieutenant Governor. After completion of his B.A exams he joined the Writers' Building (from 1923 to 1926) as the infamous Police Commissioner Sir Charles Augustus Tegart's Bengali translator; as he was fluent in both Urdu and Bengali, he had to translate news from vernacular newspapers for Sir Tegart and Colonel Simpson's perusal. Neither suspected that he was sympathetic to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. Colonel Simpson was killed in a daring attack on Writers' Building by Bengali Militants. Karim was present in that particular room, and the two militants did not harm him. But Sir Tegart managed to escape and mount an assault on the militants, who tried to commit suicide. Karim was also accompanying Tegart on January 12, 1924 during an attempt by Gopinath Saha on Tegart's life, at Chowringhee Road in Calcutta. Later, Karim returned to Cox's Bazar completing his survey course from Savar, Dhaka and started his practice in Cox's Bazar Judges Court. He had much interest in historical legal cases. He observed the entire Bhawal Raja case staying at Dhaka. Career