'No role in Afghan FM Muttaqi's presser': India after uproar over exclusion of women journalists from event

Marking the first high-level India-Afghanistan engagement since the 2021 Taliban takeover,  Muttaqi arrived in Delhi on Thursday and also met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

His visit witnessed the restoration of diplomatic ties with Taliban-ruled Afghanistan as India upgraded its Kabul technical mission to a full embassy, after the group seized power in the country.

“The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had no involvement in the press interaction held yesterday by the Afghan FM in Delhi,” officials said on Saturday.

The event took place at the Afghan embassy on Friday, where only male journalists were present as Muttaqi arrived to address the media.

Women reporters were kept out, triggering widespread condemnation.

Uproar over exclusion of women reporters

As news of the exclusion spread, it provoked a storm on social media over what many called discriminatory behaviour.

Several opposition leaders demanded an explanation from the Centre over the alleged “ban” on women journalists.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying, “When you allow the exclusion of women journalists from a public forum, you are telling every woman in India that you are too weak to stand up for them.”

“In our country, women have the right to equal participation in every space. Your silence in the face of such discrimination exposes the emptiness of your slogans on Nari Shakti,” he added.

Opposition leaders demand accountability

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also called on PM Modi to “clarify” his position on the incident. She questioned how such an “insult to some of India’s most competent women was allowed in our country, a country whose women are its backbone and its pride.”

Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra too condemned the government, saying: “Govt has dishonoured every single Indian woman by allowing the Taliban minister to exclude women journalists from presser. Shameful bunch of spineless hypocrites.”

Amid the uproar, former Union minister P Chidambaram said he was shocked that the male journalists, attending the presser did not protest the blatant exclusion of women.

He said they should have acted when they learned that women journalists were barred from the event.

“I am shocked that women journalists were excluded from the press conference addressed by Amir Khan Muttaqi of Afghanistan. In my personal view, the men journalists should have walked out when they found that their women colleagues were excluded (or not invited),” he said.