India, Oct. 11 -- A diplomatic visit by Afghanistan's acting Taliban Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, to India has sparked a political and gender rights controversy, after women journalists were allegedly barred from attending a press conference addressed by him in New Delhi on Thursday.

Former union minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram expressed his dismay, calling the exclusion of female media personnel "shocking" and suggesting that male journalists should walk out in solidarity.

"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 male journalists should have walked out when they found that their female colleagues were...