Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s daughter Moneeza Hashmi has alleged that Indian authorities denied her access to a summit hosted by the autonomous bodies of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, and public sector firm Broadcasting Engineering Consultants of India.
Hashmi, 72, had been invited to speak at the 15th Asia Media Summit in New Delhi between May 10 and May 12. However, the final list of speakers at the programme, shared by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, did not have Hashmi’s name, The Indian Express reported.
“I was invited by the Asia Pacific Institute of Broadcasting Development [one of the bodies which decided the speakers], but the Indian authorities stopped me from attending the summit in New Delhi,” Hashmi told reporters in Lahore on Saturday according to PTI.
She claimed that when she arrived in New Delhi on May 9, she was told that a hotel room was not booked for her and she was not registered for the event. “The organisers apologised. I stayed in another hotel and left for Lahore on May 12,” she said.
Press Information Bureau chief Sitanshu Kar, however, said he was not aware of the matter. Indian Institute of Mass Communication Director KG Suresh seconded him. “I am not even aware of it, of this entire incident,” Suresh said. “I also came to know about it only through media persons.”
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