Indian Government says ‘no role’ amid row over banning female journalists at Taliban presser

New Delhi: The exclusion of female journalists from a Taliban press conference in Delhi on Friday has sparked sharp criticism from opposition leaders, including Congress’s Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. On Saturday, the government clarified that it had no involvement in the event addressed by Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.

Official sources stated, “The Ministry of External Affairs had no involvement in the press interaction held yesterday by the Afghan foreign minister in Delhi.”

The absence of women journalists at the conference drew widespread criticism over the Taliban’s gender bias, even on Indian soil. Photographs from the event showed Taliban leaders addressing a men-only gathering.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra took to X, tagging Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and wrote:”Prime Minister @narendramodi ji, please clarify your position on the removal of female journalists from the press conference of the representative of the Taliban on his visit to India.

If your recognition of women’s rights isn’t just convenient posturing from one election to the other, then how has this insult to some of India’s most competent women been allowed in our country, a country whose women are its backbone and its pride.”

The press interaction came after meetings between Muttaqi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, where they discussed bilateral trade, humanitarian assistance, and security cooperation.

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram also voiced his concern, saying, “I am shocked that women journalists were excluded from the press conference addressed by Mr 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).”