On Saturday, RLD leader Malook Nagar slammed former Union Home Minister and senior Congress figure P Chidambaram for what he called “question‑raising that favors Pakistan and opposes Afghanistan and Balochistan.” Nagar said Chidambaram’s remarks could invite terrorist attacks from “the Pakistan chain” that “surrounds Afghanistan and Balochistan.”
The criticism came after Chidambaram posted on X (formerly Twitter) that the Taliban’s acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi had excluded women journalists from a press conference in New Delhi. Chidambaram said men should have boycotted the event in solidarity with their female colleagues. He added that the incident shocked him and disappointed him as a journalist.
P Chidambaram called the exclusion a violation of women’s rights. He urged India to stand up for press freedom and highlighted how the move “offended some of India’s most competent and proud women.” The post generated a wave of responses from Congress MPs and the media.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, a high‑profile Congress MP, demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi explain the government’s handling of the incident. In a separate X post she questioned whether Modi’s support for women’s rights was “just convenient posturing from one election to another.” Mrs. Gandhi asked the prime minister why “this insult to some of India’s most competent women was allowed in our country.”
The controversy began when the Taliban’s Amir Khan Muttaqi held a press conference at the Afghan embassy in New Delhi on Saturday. Women journalists were reportedly barred from the event, sparking complaints from Delhi’s media circles and a backlash from political figures in the capital.
Muttaqi’s visit comes on a week‑long tour of India that started on Monday, Oct. 9 and will end on Oct. 16. It marks the first high‑level delegation from Kabul to India since the Taliban seized power in August 2021.
The uproar highlights lingering tensions over Afghanistan’s political future, the role of the Taliban in India’s diplomatic arena, and Indian journalists’ fight for equal access across the globe. As the controversy unfolds, Indian political leaders and the press will closely watch how the government balances diplomatic ties with its commitment to press freedom and women’s rights.
Source: aninews
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