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ISLAMABAD: Brushing aside allegations levelled against the caretaker government in connection with “unequal opportunities” to the political parties for electioneering, caretaker Minister for Information Murtaza Solangi claimed Tuesday that all the political parties were enjoying equal freedom.

Talking to journalists, Solangi said that the freedom that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had the same freedom as the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and other parties.

“Everyone in Pakistan has the freedom to express an opinion, complain, and criticise.”

PPP and PTI have repeatedly been accusing the caretakers of giving special treatment to the PML-N in connection with the upcoming elections. The parties alleged that they are being denied a level playing field in the run-up to elections.

Responding to a question, Solangi reaffirmed the interim government’s resolve to assist the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in conducting free, fair, and transparent general elections, slated to be held on February 8, 2024.

“Under Article 218(3) of the Constitution, the ECP will fulfil its responsibility to conduct fair, transparent and impartial elections and the government will support it.”

He said that there were a total of 280 articles in the Constitution, not only the article of elections in 90 days. The Constitution also has Article 254.

Article 254 states that when any act or thing is required by the Constitution to be done within a particular period and it is not done within that period, it won’t render the action illegal or invalid for the sole reason of tardiness.

To another question, the minister said he had a relationship of respect with PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and his father Asif Ali Zardari and he could not comment on their statements.

After Zardari called his son, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, an “inexperienced” politician, speculations were rife that there were rifts between them — and the ex-foreign minister’s departure to Dubai further fueled them.

But Hamir Mir, the journalist who interviewed Zardari in which the ex-president made several startling revelations, said that even if there was a “situation” between the father-son duo, their party was strong enough to get them resolved.

Rejecting the media reports, Bakhtawar Bhutto-Zardari Saturday asked people to not pay heed to the headlines, stressing that the family stands united.

He said that the caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar had informed the public about his visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last night through a video message.

During the visit of the PM, the agreements and memorandums of understanding would be finalised, then the media would be informed in that regard, he added.

It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan and the UAE signed several MoUs worth multi-billion dollars in a range of areas to boost economic and strategic cooperation between the two countries.

In a phone call ahead of a UN Security Council meeting on Gaza planned for Wednesday, Erdogan and Guterres discussed the “expectations of the international community regarding Israel’s unlawful attacks”, access of humanitarian aid into the enclave, and efforts for a lasting peace, the Turkish presidency said.

“During the call, President Erdogan said Israel continues to shamelessly trample on international law, the laws of war, and international humanitarian law by looking in the eyes of the international community, and it must be held accountable for the crimes it committed in front of international law,” it said in a statement.

In addition, Jordan’s King Abdullah said Israeli aggression in Gaza and army operations in the West Bank “negate human values and the right of life.”

In remarks carried on state media, the monarch who again called for an end to the crisis, said the Israeli siege on the enclave that prevented for weeks the entry of medicine, food and fuel and cut electricity supplies, amounted to war crimes.

With beaming smiles, the rescued men were welcomed as heroes after being hauled through 57 metres (187 feet) of steel pipe on stretchers specially fitted with wheels, where they were greeted by state officials before embracing their families.

“I am completely relieved and happy as 41 trapped labourers in the Silkyara Tunnel Collapse have been successfully rescued,” Minister of Road Transport Nitin Gadkari said in a statement.

“This was a well-coordinated effort by multiple agencies, marking one of the most significant rescue operations in recent years. “

“Hail mother India!” crowds outside the tunnel cheered, as news spread that all had made it safely out of the under-construction tunnel in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, where they had been incarcerated since a partial collapse on November 12.

Relatives outside celebrated after previous hopes of reaching the men were repeatedly dashed by falling debris and the breakdown of multiple drilling machines, in a rescue operation the government said took place in “challenging Himalayan terrain”.

“We are thankful to God and the rescuers who worked hard to save them,” Naiyer Ahmad told AFP, whose younger brother Sabah Ahmad was among the trapped workers, and who had been camping out in bitterly cold temperatures at the site for over two weeks.

“We are extremely happy, no words can explain it,” said Musarrat Jahan, the wife of one rescued worker Sabah Ahmad told AFP by phone from Bihar state, where she had been waiting desperately for news.

“Not only my husband got a new life, we also got a new life. We will never forget it”.

‘Now to celebrate’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the workers in a statement that their “courage and patience is inspiring everyone”.

“Patience, hard work and faith won”, said Uttarakhand state chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, praising the “prayers of tens of millions of countrymen and the tireless work of all the rescue teams.”

The health of the workers was “fine”, with a team of medics in a field hospital assessing them as soon as they were brought out, Dhami added.

Guriya Devi, wife of rescued worker Sushil Kumar, said she had been praying ever since the tunnel collapsed.

“We passed through horrible times, and sometimes we lost hope — but ultimately the time has come to now celebrate”.

Munnilal Kishku, father of freed worker Birendar Kishku, said they had not celebrated Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, because it had happened at the same time as the tunnel collapsed. “We will celebrate it when he reaches the village,” he said.

After repeated setbacks in the operation, military engineers and skilled miners dug the final section by hand using a so-called “rat-hole” technique, a three-person team working at the rock face inside a metal pipe, just wide enough for someone to squeeze through.

‘Effort and sacrifice’

Indian billionaire Anand Mahindra paid tribute to the men at the rock face who squeezed into the narrow pipe to clear the rocks by hand.

“After all the sophisticated drilling equipment, it’s the humble ‘rathole miners’ who make the vital breakthrough,” Mahindra said on X, formerly Twitter.

“It’s a heartwarming reminder that at the end of the day, heroism is most often a case of individual effort and sacrifice.”

Last week, engineers working to drive a metal pipe horizontally through the earth ran into metal girders and construction vehicles buried in the rubble, snapping a giant earth-boring machine.

A separate vertical shaft was also started from the forested hill above the tunnel, as well as from the far side of the road tunnel, a much longer route estimated to be around 480 metres.

Before Tuesday, the workers were seen alive for the first time last week, peering into the lens of an endoscopic camera sent by rescuers down a thin pipe through which air, food, water and electricity were delivered.

Arnold Dix, president of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association, who had been advising the engineers, told reporters ahead of the rescue that the men were in good spirits, and that he had heard they had been “playing cricket”.

Such a rule can be imposed “in order to put in place an entirely neutral administrative environment,” the court said.

The judgement derived from a case lodged by a worker in a Belgian local government office who challenged a ban on her wearing an Islamic headscarf, feeling that it infringed on her freedom of religion and she was being discriminated against.

The Luxembourg-based court said a prohibition “of any sign revealing philosophical or religious beliefs… is not discriminatory if it is applied in a general and indiscriminate manner to all of that administration’s staff and is limited to what is strictly necessary”.

The ruling — valid for public sector offices across the EU — backs up previous EU court judgments that found such bans can be legal in private sector workplaces.

It said national courts should decide the applicability of such prohibitions, and that public offices could also have policies limiting such bans to public-facing workers, or decide to authorise the wearing of visible religious or philosophical signs of belief.

“Each Member State, and any infra-State body within the framework of its competences, has a margin of discretion in designing the neutrality of the public service which it intends to promote in the workplace, depending on its own context,” it said.

Commander of the Royal Saudi Land Forces (RSLF) Lieutenant General Fahd bin Abdullah Al-Mutair called on Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Syed Asim Munir at the General headquarters in Rawalpindi, the military’s media affairs wing said on Monday.

According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), during the meeting, both sides discussed various areas of mutual interest including cooperation in the fields of defence, security and military training as well as the regional situation and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

Currently, Qatar, Egypt, the United States, the European Union and other countries are working to extend the temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. During the temporary ceasefire agreement, both sides swapped dozens of hostages.

Since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas conflict on October 7, over 15,000 Palestinians — including more than 6,200 — lost their lives during the Israeli aggression and bombardment on civilian sites, including hospitals.

The visiting dignitary appreciated the Pakistan Army’s role in fighting the menace of terrorism and paid rich tribute to the sacrifices made in bringing peace to the region.

Gen Munir thanked the dignitary and said: “Pakistan deeply values its strategic and brotherly ties with the Kingdom of Saudia Arabia.”

Earlier on arrival at the GHQ, a smartly turned-out contingent of the Pakistan Army presented the guard of honour to the visiting dignitary.

Viral videos showed activists confronting Ambassador Sandhu and making statements about attacks on Sikh activists Hardeep Singh Nijjar and Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.

Mr Sandhu visited the Gurunanak Darbar Gurdwara in Long Island, New York, on Sunday to participate in Gurpurab celebrations — the most important festival for the followers of the religion of Sikhism.

Nijjar was assassinated in the parking lot of a Sikh temple in British Columbia on June 18, 2023. In September, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau blamed India for the assassination.

Last week, the Financial Times reported that Washington recently thwarted another Indian plot to assassinate Pannun as well.

On Wednesday, the White House announced it was treating the reported assassination attempt on American soil “with utmost seriousness” and has raised the issue with the Indian government “at the senior-most levels”.

Videos from the Gurdwara show protesters chanting slogans against India’s attempt to suppress the Sikh movement. One protester can also be seen raising the Khalistani flag as the ambassador was leaving the Gurdwara.

“Ambassador Sandhu aborted his visit and fled the Hicksville Gurdwara in haste, embarrassed and without answering the questions raised by the pro-Khalistan Sikhs about his role in the assassination attempts,” Mr Pannun said in a statement.

“From the incoherent answers of… the fleeing ambassador” it was obvious that India was “using mercenaries to stop the Khalistan referendum voting,” he added.

“Despite India’s attempt to assassinate me, Khalistan referendum voting will continue, and the American phase is going to start from January 28, 2024, in San Francisco, California,” he said.

The activists asked the Indian ambassador if he was also involved in the failed bid to assassinate Pannun.

Himmat Singh, who leads pro-Khalistan Sikhs at the Gurdwara, claimed that New Delhi had assassinated Mr Nijjar. The slain Sikh leader was the president of Surrey Gurdwara in Canada and the coordinator for the Canadian chapter of Khalistan Referendum.

“I only wanted answers from Ambassador Sandhu as to why India is using violence to stop the global Khalistan Referendum voting,” said Himmat Singh, who heads the East Coast Coordination Committee.