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- Taslima Nasreen criticises Afghan minister Amir Khan Muttaqi for excluding women journalists in Delhi
- Nasreen says Taliban ideology confines women to domestic roles and denies them human rights
- India clarifies it was not involved in the Afghan foreign minister’s press interaction at its Delhi embassy
Did our AI summary help? Let us know. Switch To Beeps Mode New Delhi: Bangladesh's exiled writer Taslima Nasreen has slammed Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi for not allowing women journalists to attend a press conference in Delhi on Friday.
Nasreen, who escaped from Bangladesh in 1994, said the Taliban "refuse to grant women human rights because they do not consider women to be human."
She also criticised male journalists who attended the Afghan leader's press conference in Delhi, saying they would have walked out if they had any conscience.
"The Afghan Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, has come to India and held a press conference. However, he did not allow any female journalists to attend. In Islam as practiced by the Taliban, women are expected only to stay at home, bear children, and serve their husbands and children," Nasreen said in a post on X.
"These misogynistic men do not want to see women anywhere outside the home - not in schools, not in workplaces. They refuse to grant women human rights because they do not consider women to be human. If the male journalists had any conscience, they would have walked out of the press conference. A state built on vile misogyny is a barbaric state - and no civilised nation should recognize it," the Bangladeshi author said.
The Afghan Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, has come to India and held a press conference. However, he did not allow any female journalists to attend. In Islam as practiced by the Taliban, women are expected only to stay at home, bear children, and serve their husbands and...
— taslima nasreen (@taslimanasreen) October 11, 2025
Her comments came hours after the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in a statement today clarified that it had no involvement in the press interaction held by the Afghan foreign minister in Delhi.
The press conference was held at the Afghanistan Embassy following bilateral talks between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Muttaqi. No joint press briefing was held after the meeting between the two ministers. The Afghan side alone conducted a separate media interaction at its embassy.
During the press conference, Muttaqi spoke on regional issues, including India-Afghanistan relations, humanitarian assistance, trade routes, and security cooperation. However, only male journalists were seen at the press conference.
Under the "Taliban 2.0" regime that took power in August 2021, Afghan women and girls face what the UN calls the most severe women's rights crisis in the world. Rather than a more moderate approach, the Taliban have systematically expanded and intensified their restrictions on women's lives, effectively erasing them from public existence.
The exclusion of women journalists sparked political outrage nationwide.
Congress leader P Chidambaram expressed disappointment, saying male journalists should have walked out 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)," Chidambaram said in a post on X.
The Afghan minister's visit till October 16 marks the first high-level delegation from Kabul to India since the Taliban seized power in August 2021.
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