Washington, DC: Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, Ambassador of Pakistan to the United States, welcomed Tariq Karim, Consul General of Pakistan in Chicago, for a farewell visit at the embassy on October 11, 2025, as Karim embarks on his new assignment as Pakistan’s ambassador to Myanmar. Ambassador Sheikh praised the outgoing Consul General’s dedicated and standard-setting service to Pakistan and the Pakistani-American community in the Midwestern United States. He also wished the Ambassador Designate continued success in his future endeavors.
Karim, 5l, holds a Master of Philosophy in Environmental Sciences and Master of Science in Bio Sciences from Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad. He also earned an MA in history from the University of Punjab and a One-year Postgraduate Foreign Service Program in Diplomatic Studies, with distinctions, from the University of Oxford, UK.
A senior career diplomat, the Ambassador Designate has wide-ranging experience in different capacities that include assignments both at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Pakistan’s missions abroad.
Prior to his appointment as Consul General in Chicago in 2021, Karim served as Director General for Economic Diplomacy and Organization for Islamic Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad. In this capacity, the diplomat focused on issues related to economic diplomacy while dealing with a wide range of multilateral issues. In addition, he was Pakistan’s Commissioner for D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation.
Earlier in his career, he served as Political Counselor, Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi, India where he dealt with a wide range of issues.
His other overseas assignments include serving as the Deputy Head of Mission/Counselor at the Embassy of Pakistan in The Hague, and Deputy Permanent Representative to the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. He also served in Pakistan’s embassies in Dushanbe and Moscow.
Karim will arrive in Myanmar during a turbulent time for the Southeast Asian nation of 54 million consisting of some 100 ethnic groups. Following the 2021 military coup, the country has been engaged in a civil war and is experiencing a severe humanitarian crisis.
(Elaine Pasquini is a freelance journalist. Her reports appear in the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs and Nuze.Ink.)
