A men-only press conference with the Taliban foreign minister in New Delhi drew sharp rebuke from Indian media, forcing the religious hardli...
A men-only press conference with the Taliban foreign minister in New Delhi drew sharp rebuke from Indian media, forcing the religious hardline group to also invite female journalists.
Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi began a week-long trip to India last Thursday in what's the first diplomatic visit by a top leader of the Islamic fundamentalist group since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021.
The trip was only made possible by the United Nations granting a temporary exemption to the travel ban imposed on Muttaqi.
It is seen as an attempt by New Delhi to shift its stance on the Taliban government in Kabul without giving them formal recognition.
After talks between Muttaqi and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Friday, New Delhi announced that it would upgrade ties with the Taliban and reopen the Indian embassy in Kabul.
But a press conference organized by the Taliban at the Afghan embassy in New Delhi on the same day drew sharp condemnation as only male reporters were invited. Indian journalists, media outlets and opposition politicians blasted the decision.
The Press Club of India "strongly condemned” it, while the Editors Guild of India lambasted it as "blatant gender discrimination on Indian soil."
Sujata Madhok, president of the Delhi Union of Journalists, told okay1it was outrageous that the Taliban brought their misogynist politics to New Delhi. "Geopolitics is all very well but gender politics is important too. Why should it be sacrificed in the 'larger interest?'" she questioned.
Backlash forces Taliban climbdown
India's Foreign Ministry tried to distance itself from the controversy, stating that it "had no involvement in the press interaction held by the Afghan foreign minister in Delhi."
The ministry stressed that the event was organized solely by the Taliban side at the Afghan embassy, with no involvement from the Indian government.
The statement, however, did not quell the criticism, with some voices accusing the Indian government of tacitly permitting discriminatory norms on Indian soil.
Rahul Gandhi, a leading figure in the opposition Congress Party, wrote on X: "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."
After the backlash, the Taliban held another press conference at the Afghan embassy in New Delhi — this time inviting even female journalists, who occupied front-row seats at the event and questioned the minister about the brutal subjugation of Afghan women and girls under Taliban rule.
Muttaqi blames 'technical issue' for lack of women
At the presser, Muttaqi tried to downplay the exclusion of women journalists from the previous media event, blaming it on a "technical issue."
"With regard to the press conference, it was on short notice, and a short list of journalists was decided, and the participation list that was presented was very specific. It was more of a technical issue," he said.
Smita Sharma, an independent journalist focusing on foreign affairs who attended the second press conference on Sunday, believes the Indian government had ways to avert the incident.
"The Indian Foreign Ministry could have avoided this fiasco and bad optics by a timely intervention or letting its objection known to the first discriminatory press conference," she said.
"The outrage in India really began with women journalists speaking up for their rights to not be discriminated in their professional duty based on gender by a visiting foreign delegation," she pointed out.
'Indian diplomacy missed an opportunity'
Suhasini Haidar, diplomatic affairs editor at the Indian English-language daily The Hindu, said the Taliban climbdown signaled that such gender discrimination was unacceptable in India.
"Muttaqi's behavior, including bringing the Taliban flag into the embassy despite India not recognizing the Taliban government, was intended as a political statement implying Taliban rules could apply in Delhi. Yet, the subsequent open press conference acknowledged this was a misstep," she told okay1.
Haidar, who also attended the second press conference, said the change was not because of external diplomatic pressure, but rather due to public uproar and media solidarity.
"Public outrage played a key role, even though there were no rallies or activism beyond journalists' objections," she said.
"However, Indian diplomacy missed an opportunity during Jaishankar's talks with Muttaqi. There was no statement about gender discrimination, girls' education, or women's right to work in Afghanistan — issues that could have been addressed," said Haidar.
Taliban maintain 'gender apartheid' in Afghanistan
Since seizing power in August 2021, the Taliban have rolled back progress achieved in the previous two decades when it came to women's rights.
They have banished women and girls from almost all areas of public life.
Girls have been barred from attending school beyond sixth grade, and women have been prohibited from local jobs and nongovernmental organizations. The Taliban have also ordered the closure of beauty salons and barred women from going to gyms and parks. And women are not allowed to go out without a male guardian.
In August, the Taliban deepened the pervasive restrictions by ordering women to hide not only their faces and bodies but also their voices outside the home.
Against this backdrop, Haider said, India "must be cautious not to appear as appeasing a regime accused of grave rights abuses, including gender apartheid, and remains unrecognized globally."
Prioritizing India's interests over values?
The gradual thaw in India-Taliban relations seems to coincide with the souring of ties between Pakistan and the religious hardline group.
Islamabad has been increasingly angry with the Taliban regime over cross-border terrorism, among other issues, and has even launched airstrikes on Afghan territory.
The Pakistani military and Afghan Taliban forces engaged in fierce fighting over the weekend, marking the deadliest conflict between the neighbors in recent years.
Ajay Bisaria, a former Indian high commissioner to Pakistan, said India and the Taliban are prioritizing their national security interests in their dealings with each other, while acknowledging their differences in terms of democracy, religion and gender policies.
It was right for Indian media and civil society to have pressed the Taliban minister on gender discrimination, he noted. "Muttaqi will go home with a better appreciation of the problem that the rest of the world will have with their attitude towards women," he told okay1.
He said India should "continue pressing the Taliban on its gender policies at home," but stressed that if both sides' values do not align, "it should not be a dealbreaker in India's pragmatic engagement with the current rulers of Afghanistan."
Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru
Author: Murali Krishnan (in New Delhi)
COMMENTS