"Very unfortunate...reflects Taliban mindset," says Priyanka Chaturvedi on absence of women journalists from Afghan FM presser

"It is very unfortunate. Everyone knows what kind of Taliban mindset it is. Atrocities are being committed against women in Afghanistan. I had said yesterday as well that whenever our Foreign Minister meets them, he should raise the issue of what is happening to the women there... What happened to the female journalists yesterday happened in the Afghan Embassy," she said.

Chaturvedi urged the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to address the issue by raising concerns about women's treatment in Afghanistan and to communicate to the Taliban that such actions contradict India's constitutional values of press freedom and gender equality.

"It may not be under MEA's control, but I hope that MEA takes cognisance of this and writes a letter to the Taliban to address it, stating that the practices and norms in our country are in accordance with our Constitution. We also have freedom of the press and equality. Women have been given equal status. Keeping them out in this manner is very shameful," she added.

The controversy arose after a press conference by Afghanistan's Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi at the Afghanistan Embassy in New Delhi on Friday, where Indian women journalists were allegedly not allowed to attend. Muttaqui is on a week-long visit to India, beginning from October 9 till October 16. This is the first high-level delegation from Kabul to India since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021.

Earlier, Congress MP and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, also criticised the Modi government over the incident. In a post on X, Rahul Gandhi said, "Mr. Modi, 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," the post further reads. (ANI)