Anger after female journalists excluded from Afghan embassy event in India
Indian Ministry of External Affairs / Handout via Getty ImagesIndian politicians have criticised the government for failing to speak out after female journalists were excluded from a press event with the Afghan Taliban foreign minister in New Delhi.
Around 16 male reporters were selected to attend a forum on Friday with Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi at the Afghanistan embassy. Journalists observed women and foreign media being turned away.
Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi said by allowing the event to go ahead, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was “telling every woman in India that you are too weak to stand up for them”.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs said it “had no involvement in the press interaction” at the Afghan embassy.
The Taliban government admitted women had not been invited to attend.
A source in the Taliban government told the BBC “female journalists were excluded due to lack of proper coordination and will be invited to next conference if held in Delhi”.
Muttaqi is in India for a week of high-level talks with the government. On Friday, he met with Foreign Minister S Jaishankar who announced that India would re-open its embassy in Kabul. It was shut after the Taliban returned to power.
Since 2021, the Taliban government has imposed numerous restrictions in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic Sharia law which have severely impacted the rights of Afghan women and girls.
Following the men-only press event, Rahul Gandhi said on social media: “In our country, women have the right to equal participation in every space.”
Indian politician Priyanka Gandhi Vadra asked Modi to clarify his position on “the removal of female journalists” from the gathering.
She asked how “this insult to some of India’s most competent women” had been allowed in “a country whose women are its backbone and its pride”.
Others expressed shock and said the men who went to the event should have walked out in solidarity with their female colleagues.
“Why did our emasculated spineless male journos remain in room?” wrote politician Mahua Moitra on social media.
She added: “Government has dishonoured every single Indian woman by allowing Taliban minister to exclude women journalists from presser. Shameful bunch of spineless hypocrites.”