Following the end of the British rule in 1947, Cox's Bazar remained a part of East Pakistan. Fazlul Karim, the first chairman of Cox's Bazar after independence from the British, created the Tamarisk Forest near the beach to attract tourism and prevent tidal wave destruction. Karim was motivated to make Cox's Bazar a tourism area after seeing beaches in Karachi and Bombay, and is credited with much of the city's success as a tourist attraction.