"Shocked...men journalists should have walked out": Chidambaram over exclusion of women journalists from Afghan FM Muttaqi's press conference

New Delhi [India], October 11 (ANI): Former Union Home Minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram expressed shock and disappointment over the exclusion of women journalists from Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi press conference in New Delhi.

He felt that male journalists should have boycotted the event in solidarity with their female colleagues.

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), he said in a post on X.

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)

— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN)

October 11, 2025

A controversy erupted in New Delhi over a press conference by the Taliban acting Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, where Indian women journalists were allegedly barred from attending at the Afghanistan Embassy.

Congress MP Karti P Chidambaram was more critical of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government over the issue and expressed his disappointment with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

I understand the geopolitical compulsions that force us to engage with the Taliban, but to acede to their discriminatory & plain primitive mores is outright ridiculous, it very disappointing to note the conduct of the Ministry of External Affairs and S Jaishankar in excluding women journalists from the press briefing of the Taliban Minister, he said.

https://x.com/KartiPC/status/1976690948207001891

The criticism comes after no women reporters were seen at Afghanistan Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi press conference on Thursday.

The Taliban minister 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.

On the first day of his visit, Muttaqi held a bilateral meeting with EAM S Jaishankar and discussed cooperative efforts to strengthen ties between both nations.

India also announced several new projects for Afghanistan as part of its ongoing healthcare cooperation. The project includes the establishment of a Thalassemia centre and a modern diagnostic centre in Kabul, as well as the replacement of the heating system at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health (IGICH).

India will also construct a 30-bed hospital in Kabul Bagrami district, an Oncology Centre and a Trauma Centre in Kabul, as well as five Maternity Health Clinics across the provinces of Paktika, Khost, and Paktia. (ANI)

Disclaimer: This news article is a direct feed from ANI and has not been edited by the News Nation team. The news agency is solely responsible for its content.