The State Department has said that the US special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan Marc Grossman wanted to visit Pakistan but owing to prevailing situation he was not allowed, Geo News reported.

The US State Department Spokesman said Pakistan refused to grant permission due to prevailing situation.

The spokesman said United States wants better relations with Pakistan, adding that we should go ahead as there was no other way

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari flew to the United Arab Emirates Thursday, amid growing tensions between Pakistan’s civilian government and the military.

Officials said Mr. Zardari was to attend a wedding in Dubai and will be back in Pakistan on Friday. They also said the trip is not linked to the current crisis in Pakistan.

Khawaja Muhammad Mehr Ali, Chairman Pakistan Tanners Association, Northern Zone, has announced that owners and workers of Punjab leather industries will join the Lahore chamber’s sit-in planned on Saturday, January 7.

Addressing a press conference on Friday, he strongly condemned the discriminatory suspension of gas supply for Punjab industries, including the leather tanneries. S M Naseem, Chairman Pakistan Tanners Association (Central), was also present.

The United States on Wednesday said it wants to strengthen Pakistan’s civilian capacity to counter terrorism, as a senior American official observed that the South Asian nation has suffered more at the hands of terrorist violence than any other country.

Ambassador Daniel Banjamin, who will head the newly-established Bureau of Counterterrorism at the State Department, also acknowledged that “there’s no question we’re going through a difficult time in the wake of the (November 26, 2011) cross-border incident and a number of other incidents that have occurred in the last year.”

Pakistan’s Supreme Court set up a judicial commission Friday to investigate a secret memo scandal that threatens the government, lawyers said, dealing a blow to the country’s leaders, who have argued that such a probe is unnecessary. More >

While emphasising restraint and responsibility in the management of nuclear weapons, India has expressed the hope that Pakistan would begin talks on joining the Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT) at the next Conference on Disarmament (CD) session expected to start in the third week of January.

An intelligence officer and a police official were shot dead in two separate incidents in Peshawar and its suburbs on Tuesday.

An official of the Yakatoot police station said Siraj Khan, assistant director of the Intelligence Bureau, by killed by unidentified gunmen on the Dora Road as he was returning home after Isha (night) prayers.

Garhi Khuda Bakhsh – Pakistan’s embattled president on Tuesday vigorously defended his rule and urged the nation to foil “conspiracies against democracy” on the anniversary of his wife Benazir Bhutto’s murder. More >