In keeping with Islamic norms, officials from the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) reportedly barred female journalists from attending a press conference in India to maintain gender segregation.
The press meeting occurred as part of a diplomatic visit to Delhi, by IEA Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi who spoke at the briefing which allegedly implemented a block on female journalists from attending.
The presser sparked a backlash from local Indian journalists and some politicians forcing India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to clarify that it had no role in organising the event.
“MEA had no involvement in the press interaction held yesterday by Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, in Delhi,” the ministry said in a statement.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address the matter, saying: “If your recognition of women’s rights isn’t just convenient posturing, then how has this happened in our country?”
Prominent Indian journalist Rana Ayyub criticised male journalists who attended the briefing without standing in solidarity with their female colleagues.
In Islam, gender segregation (the practice of men and women being separated in certain spaces or activities) is an important subject and is based on ideas about modesty, respect, and social harmony.
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Since 2021, the IEA have implemented many orders, laws, and policies that impose or increase segregation and restrictions on inappropriate interaction between men and women.
However, India is a Hindu majority republic which is currently ruled over by a sectarian Hindu nationalist party the Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP.
The BJP push an extreme Hindutva ideology which believes in establishing India as a Hindu dominated nation which marginalises or possibly even expels other religious minorities, especially Islam from the region.
Although the Indian government has attempted to maintain positive relationships with several Middle Eastern Muslim majority countries, the Modi regime has been condemned globally for its oppressive stance towards Islam and Muslims inside India.
India upgrades IEA ties
Muttaqi’s week-long visit to India marks the first high-level delegation from the IEA to Delhi since the end of the Western occupation of Afghanistan in August 2021.
During his first day in India, Muttaqi met with Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar to discuss bilateral relations, trade, and regional security issues.
India has announced plans to upgrade its technical mission in Kabul to a full embassy, a significant step in its engagement with the Islamic Emirate administration.
In addition, new healthcare projects have been unveiled as part of India’s ongoing humanitarian assistance programme in Afghanistan.
Officials noted that India’s engagement with the IEA is primarily focused on ensuring stability in Afghanistan and supporting development and humanitarian initiatives, including healthcare, education, and infrastructure projects.
The visit comes amid a rise in tensions between Pakistan and the IEA as well as the continued oppression of Muslims in India by sectarian Hindutva forces.
On 6 October, A large mob of Hindutva thugs armed with bamboo sticks stormed a Muslim-majority neighbourhood in India’s eastern state of Odisha, vandalising shops and vehicles in one of the city’s worst outbreaks of communal violence in years.
While on 9 October, Pakistan attacked Kabul amid accusations from Islamabad that the IEA are providing shelter for an insurgency group responsible for deadly attacks on Pakistani forces.
“This action is an unprecedented, violent, and reprehensible act in the history of Afghanistan and Pakistan,” said the Defence Ministry in a statement posted on X.
“We condemn this violation of Afghanistan’s sovereignty in the strongest terms and consider the defence of our country’s sovereignty our legitimate right. Following such actions, no matter how critical the situation becomes, the consequences will be borne by the Pakistani army,” it warned.
