During a diplomatic visit to New Delhi, Afghanistan’s acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi held a press conference at the Afghan embassy that drew quick attention for a troubling reason: several female journalists were reportedly denied entry. According to reporters on the ground, the exclusion was ordered by officials accompanying the minister. The move interrupted what would otherwise have been a routine post-meeting briefing and instead became the focus of widespread criticism in Indian media and beyond.

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Multiple outlets reported that the journalists affected included senior correspondents and at least one reporter representing an international publication. Indian organisers at the embassy reportedly suggested that female reporters should be permitted to attend, but the final accreditation was determined by members of the visiting delegation. The decision sparked immediate concern among media organisations that view equal access to official events as a baseline professional standard rather than a negotiable concession.

Responses across editorial pages and social platforms were swift. Several prominent journalists and commentators condemned the exclusion and questioned the rationale for allowing visiting officials to override host accreditation decisions. Public reaction reflected broader anxieties about gender equality and the reach of policies adopted by foreign delegations while on official visits. Some observers emphasised the symbolic harm of normalising exclusionary practices in high-visibility diplomatic settings.

Context matters: the press conference followed a reported meeting between the Afghan delegation and India’s External Affairs Minister, a discussion framed by officials as part of ongoing diplomatic engagement. New Delhi faces a standard diplomatic calculus—pursue cooperation on security and humanitarian issues while also navigating domestic public opinion and the values that inform it. Incidents that touch on gendered restrictions complicate that calculus and invite closer parliamentary and public scrutiny.

At the core of the debate is press freedom. Press conferences are an essential mechanism for public accountability, enabling journalists to ask questions, report observations and scrutinise official positions. When access is restricted by gender, the diversity of perspectives contributing to public debate is reduced. That outcome not only affects coverage of the event itself but may also shape the broader narrative about diplomatic transparency and trust between states and their citizens.

The mechanics of accreditation are not uniform. Embassies, local press offices and security agencies jointly manage protocol and access. In many democratic settings, host authorities retain the prerogative to determine who may attend official events held on their soil, and visiting delegations are typically expected to respect those decisions. Where visiting delegations insist on their own protocols, friction can arise. Observers and legal experts suggest that clearer written agreements and published accreditation rules can prevent ambiguity and reduce the risk of last-minute disputes.

Newsrooms must now consider how to respond. Should media organisations accept restricted access to preserve proximity to sources, or should they decline participation in protest and thereby risk losing immediate reporting opportunities? Some editors favour conditional attendance—cover the event while publicly noting restrictions—whereas others may refuse to normalise discriminatory practices. Each newsroom must weigh the public interest in direct reporting against institutional commitments to principle and inclusion.

International press watchdogs and human rights organisations routinely highlight that journalists should not face discrimination based on gender or other protected characteristics. Incidents that single out categories of reporters invite scrutiny under international norms of non-discrimination and freedom of expression. While diplomatic practice varies across jurisdictions, many democracies treat open access to official events as an important democratic value, and deviations from that principle tend to attract sustained critique.

The diplomatic fallout can extend beyond the immediate media narrative. Public perception of a host government’s response matters: failing to clearly assert inclusive accreditation norms can feed narratives that a country is tolerant of discriminatory practices when engaging with certain foreign actors. Over time, repeated incidents of this nature could erode public support for aspects of diplomatic engagement or limit the domestic political space for deepening cooperation on sensitive issues.

Practical proposals have already begun to emerge from media advocacy groups. Recommended measures include publishing accreditation criteria well before events, establishing a neutral review mechanism to adjudicate disputes over access, and codifying the host authority’s role in finalising attendance lists for public briefings. These steps aim to balance the operational needs of diplomacy with the imperative of protecting journalists’ rights to report without discrimination.

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For newsrooms covering international affairs, policy changes at the accreditation level could bring more predictable coverage opportunities. Clear rules would reduce uncertainty for journalists and allow editors to plan coverage without last-minute surprises. They would also put visiting delegations on notice that accreditation decisions taken abroad will be subject to the host nation’s published protocols and public scrutiny, which in turn may reduce the likelihood of disputes.

The New Delhi episode is a reminder that a single procedural choice can have outsized consequences for public discourse. It highlights the intersection between diplomatic practice, press freedom and gender equality, and it points to the need for transparent, enforceable standards. Making those standards operational will require cooperation between government protocol offices, foreign missions, media organisations and civil society to ensure that access is fair, accountable and non-discriminatory.

Indian-Share-Tips.com Main Analyst Gulshan Khera, CFP®, who is also a SEBI Regd Investment Adviser, observes that geopolitical headlines and rights-related controversies can increase short-term volatility in risk-sensitive assets and may temporarily shift flows into defensive sectors. He suggests monitoring headline-driven volume spikes and volatility indicators rather than making structural portfolio changes based on a single diplomatic incident. However, we condemn such type of activity of barring female journalists when we are talking of taking women even in the fighting arms defending the nation.