Pakistan says U.S. special envoy visit "not possible”

PanARMENIAN.Net - Pakistan told U.S. special envoy Marc Grossman that it is "not possible at the moment" for him to visit the country, a senior government official told Reuters Wednesday, Jan 17, without elaborating on the reason for refusing Grossman's request to visit.

Relations between Islamabad and Washington plunged to the lowest point in years when a NATO cross-border air attack killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on November 26.

"Ambassador Grossman asked to visit Pakistan but we conveyed to him that it was not possible at the moment," a senior government official, who declined to be named, told Reuters.

Troubled U.S.-Pakistan ties threaten to set back peace efforts in neighboring Afghanistan, where the United States is gradually withdrawing troops after a decade of war.

Grossman is due to visit Afghanistan and Qatar this week, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last Wednesday.

Relations between Pakistan's civilian leadership and military are also at their worst since a 1999 coup following reports of a disputed memo allegedly from President Asif Ali Zardari's government seeking U.S. help in reining in Pakistan's powerful generals.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s highest court escalated its clash with the government on Monday, January 16 by initiating contempt of court proceedings against Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani for failing to pursue corruption charges against his boss, President Asif Ali Zardari.

The Supreme Court was clearly infuriated after the government’s lawyer said the government had given no instructions on how to respond to the court’s demands.

Justice Nasir ul Mulk ordered Mr. Gilani to appear Thursday to explain why he should not be charged with contempt, a charge that could open to the door to his dismissal from office.

Besides, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, the militant movement that poses the gravest security threat to the country, is believed to have been killed by a U.S. drone strike.