A career diplomat and advisor to BNP chairperson, Karim died with his wife Salma Karim at the bedside, a family source said, adding that his body will soon be brought to Dhaka and buried in Banani graveyard. His son Shahed Karim and daughter Sima Karim already left for Egypt last night.

Karim was appointed the Bangladeshi ambassador to Egypt in June this year and joined his workplace in August.

Born in 1935 in Kushtia, he got his BA (Hons) in Economics from Dhaka University and MA in Public Administration from Karachi University. He received another MA from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, the oldest graduate school of international relations in the US.

He served as a Bangladeshi high commissioner to the UK and Sri Lanka and ambassador to China, Soviet Union, Iran, and Iraq and was concurrently accredited to Finland, Lebanon, North Korea, Mongolia and the Maldives.

Throughout his career, he attended a number of UN and international conferences including UN General Assembly sessions, Commonwealth Head of the Government meetings, Non-aligned summits, Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) meetings, Saarc summits and others.

He worked as an international observer during the parliamentary election in Sri Lanka in 1994, in Cameroon 1997 and in Pakistan 2002. He lectured at universities of Oxford and Cambridge and other prestigious schools across the globe.

A polyglot, Karim used to write regularly for The Daily Star and has penned a number of books on contemporary political developments.

He was the chairman of Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF), the apex micro-credit provider in the country, and president of the Rotary Club of Gulshan.

He was also the vice-chairman of Swanirvar (self-help) Bangladesh, president of the Commonwealth Society of Bangladesh and honorary advisor to the UNHCR Bangladesh, the Bangladesh-China People's Friendship Society, the Russia-Bangladesh Federation of Chamber of Commerce, the DemocracyWatch and the South Asian Forum of Bangladesh.

President Iajuddin Ahmed and Prime Minister Khaleda Zia have expressed condolences to the bereaved family. Besides, Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan, LGRD Minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, Environment and Forest Minister Tariqul Islam, Advisor to Foreign Affairs Reaz Rahman and officials of the foreign ministry have condoled with the family over Karim's death.