Media our bodies condemn exclusion of girls journalists in Afghan Ministers press convention

Media our bodies on Saturday condemned the “exclusion” of girls journalists at a press convention held by Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi on the Afghan Embassy right here.

The Editors Guild of India and the Indian Women Press Corps (IWPC) termed the act as extremely discriminatory, which can’t be justified, citing diplomatic privilege beneath the Vienna Convention.

“While diplomatic premises might declare safety beneath the Vienna Convention, that can’t justify blatant gender discrimination in press entry on Indian soil,” the Guild mentioned in a press release.

“Whether or not the MEA coordinated the occasion, it’s deeply troubling that such a discriminatory exclusion was allowed to proceed with out objection,” the Guild mentioned.

The IWPC urged the Government of India to take this matter up with the Afghan Embassy to make sure that such gender-based exclusion in media briefings doesn’t happen sooner or later.

The Opposition on Saturday termed the absence of feminine journalists from Mr. Muttaqi’s press convention “unacceptable” and “an insult to girls”, and requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make clear his place on the matter.

Congress normal secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra mentioned if the Prime Minister’s recognition of girls’s rights is not only handy posturing from one election to the opposite, how has this “insult to a few of India’s most competent girls been allowed in our nation”.

The social gathering mentioned it was stunning and unacceptable that the Government of India agreed to the “ban on female journalists” on the presser in Delhi.

On Friday, Mr. Muttaqi side-stepped a direct query on the plight of girls in Afghanistan, however mentioned each nation has its personal customs, legal guidelines and ideas, and there ought to be respect for them. He claimed that the general state of affairs in Afghanistan has improved considerably because the Taliban got here to energy in August 2021.

Mr. Muttaqi identified that some 200 to 400 individuals died in Afghanistan daily earlier than the Taliban began ruling the nation. “In these 4 years, there have been no such losses. Laws are in drive and each one has their rights. Those who’re partaking in propaganda are making a mistake,” he identified.

“Every nation has its personal customs, legal guidelines and ideas, and works in keeping with these. It just isn’t right that persons are not given their rights. If individuals weren’t proud of the system and the legal guidelines, why has peace returned?” he requested.