The announcement that no women would be permitted during the meeting caused a great deal of uproar when Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi met with the media in New Delhi.
The Ministry of External Affairs claimed that it had no involvement in the press conference in the face of intense criticism over the absence of women.
“The Ministry of External Affairs had no involvement in the presser held yesterday by the Afghan foreign minister in Delhi,” official sources clarified on record.
The announcement that no women would be permitted during the meeting caused a great deal of uproar when Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi met with the media in New Delhi.
Muttaqi met with Jaishankar on Friday after arriving in India on Thursday. The foreign minister of Afghanistan hailed India’s announcement at the meeting, which was viewed as a significant reset of relations, that the technical mission in Kabul will be converted to an embassy.
India is steadfast in its support of Afghanistan’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. “I am happy to announce that India’s Technical Mission has been promoted to the rank of embassy,” Jaishankar stated.
Amir Khan Muttaqi is a member of the Taliban, who currently control Afghanistan. The Taliban is notorious for enforcing draconian laws that prevent women from working.
Despite following the dress code, a number of journalists resorted to social media to voice their displeasure at the exclusion of female journalists from the event. A lot of people on social media also questioned the action.
Mahua Moitra of the Trinamool Congress vehemently criticized S. Jaishankar, the External Affairs Minister, and the Union government for excluding female journalists from the news conference in New Delhi.
How dare our government permit Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Muttaqi to hold a “male-only” news conference on Indian territory with all the formalities and exclude female journalists? @DrSJaishankar, how dare you accept this? She wrote, “And why did our emasculated, flinching male journalists stay in the room?”
Congressman P Chidambram was equally incensed by the situation and stated that male journalists ought to have
