It’s often said that a picture can speak a thousand words.
The one in Indian newspapers on Monday morning showing female journalists occupying front-row seats at the Afghan Taliban foreign minister’s press conference in Delhi is certainly one of those.
The conference – the second press event by Amir Khan Muttaqi at the Afghan embassy in about 48 hours – was called after a huge uproar over the exclusion of women from his first meeting on Friday.
Muttaqi said at Sunday’s conference that the exclusion was unintentional and not “deliberate”.
“With regard to the [Friday’s] 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 a technical issue… Our colleagues had decided to send an invitation to a specific list of journalists and there was no other intention apart from this,” he added.
The UN has referred to the situation in Afghanistan as “gender apartheid” where women and girls are not allowed to attend secondary school or university, visit parks or gyms. The jobs they are allowed to do are increasingly restricted and the Taliban government enforces head-to-toe coverings and restricts their travel.
The Taliban government, which retook power in 2021, has previously said it respects women’s rights in accordance with their interpretation of Afghan culture and Islamic law, but Western diplomats have said their attempts to gain recognition have been hampered by the curbs on women. The suppression of women’s rights under their rule is the harshest in the world.
Muttaqi arrived in India on Thursday for a week of high-level talks with the government from Russia, the only country so far to fully recognise their government.
Delhi has not formally recognised Afghanistan’s de facto rulers, but it is one of a number of countries that maintain some form of diplomatic or informal relations with them, even maintaining a small mission in Kabul and sending humanitarian aid there.
The visit is being seen as a ramping up of relations between the countries and is key for both – the Taliban government receives a boost in its quest for recognition, while India advances its strategic and security interests. On Friday, Muttaqi met Foreign Minister S Jaishankar who announced that India would reopen its embassy in Kabul which was shut after the Taliban returned to power in 2021.
The press event later in the day was attended by around 16 male reporters while female journalists were turned away from the embassy gates.
A source in the Taliban government had admitted women had not been invited to attend.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said it “had no involvement in the press interaction” as it was held at the Afghan embassy.
But the gender discrimination on Indian soil angered politicians and journalists who criticised the government for letting it happen.
Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi said that 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”.
The Editors Guild of India, the Indian Women’s Press Corps (IWPC) and the Network of Women in Media, India (NWMI), issued strong statements, calling the exclusion “highly discriminatory”.
“While diplomatic premises may claim protection under the Vienna Convention, that cannot justify blatant gender discrimination in press access on Indian soil,” the Guild said.
“Whether or not the MEA co-ordinated the event, it is deeply troubling that such a discriminatory exclusion was allowed to proceed without objection,” it added.
The NWMI said it was the Indian government’s “responsibility to uphold the democratic rights and constitutional freedoms of female citizens, including their right to work and livelihood” and that they should have questioned such “blatant gender discrimination”.
The group also criticised male journalists who attended Friday’s conference for not standing up for their female colleagues. “In moments like these, silence can be seen as complicity in normalising gender discrimination,” the statement said.
Amid growing outrage in India, Muttaqi’s team sent out fresh invitations for Sunday’s interaction, describing it as an “inclusive” event open to all media personnel.
It’s not clear what led to the second press meet – though there is no official confirmation, there has been some speculation that the Indian government may have intervened.
The conference was well attended and the minister was asked some hard-hitting questions about the reason for keeping out women from Friday’s meeting – and the rights of Afghan girls and women.
“We have 10 million students in schools and institutes, including over 2.8 million women and girls. In madrassas, education continues up to graduation,” Muttaqi responded. “Some limits exist, but we’ve never declared women’s education religiously haram [forbidden], it’s only postponed until further order,” he said.
Many journalists who attended the press conference questioned the minister’s claim, pointing out the restrictions the Taliban have imposed on girls and women since 2021.
Over the past four years, girls over the age of 12 were banned from getting an education and job options for women have been severely restricted. In recent weeks, the Taliban government also removed books written by women from universities in Afghanistan.
The minister’s response to follow-up questions on women’s rights in Afghanistan may not have been satisfactory. But, as some journalists pointed out, the very fact that the second press conference was organised and that the minister took questions on gender issues can be seen as progress.
