Habibullah Bahar Chowdhury

Chowdhury was born at Guthuma village in Feni district in 1906. His father, Mohammad Nurullah, was a munsiff.[2] He passed Matriculation in 1922 from Chittagong Municipal School and ISc from Chittagong College in 1924. He then graduated from Calcutta Islamia College in 1928.

In 1933, Chowdhury took up journalism and along with his sister, Shamsunnahar Mahmud, published the literary journal "Bulbul".[3] Chowdhury actively joined politics as an activist of the Bengal Provincial Muslim League, and was elected a member of its executive committee in 1937. In 1944, he was elected publicity secretary of the League. He was elected a member of the Bengal Legislative Assembly from the Parshuram constituency of Feni district.[1] He was the health minister of the first Muslim League cabinet in East Pakistan.[1]

After suffering a stroke, he resigned from the cabinet position in 1953. Chowdhury started writing books prior to 1947 partition. His works include "Pakistan", "Mohammad Ali Jinnah", "Omar Faruq", and "Ameer Ali".[1]

Chowdhury was married to Anwara Bahar Chowdhury (1919–1987). Anwara was a social activist and writer. She established Habibullah Bahar College in 1969 after Chowdhury's name.[4] Together they had 4 daughters – Selina Bahar Zaman, Shaheen Westcombe, Nasreen Shams and Tazeen Chowdhury and one son - Iqbal Bahar Chowdhury.[5] Chowdhury's grandfather, Khan Bahadur Abdul Aziz, an educationist, had a close relationship with poet Kazi Nazrul Islam.[6]