The daughter of celebrated Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz's daughter, Moneeza Hashmi, claims she was denied permission to speak or participate in the 15th Asia Media Summit which was held in New Delhi on 10th-12th May.
The 72-year-old is herself a famous media personality and an advocate of women’s rights and peace in her country.
According to the website of the Asia-Pacific Institute of Broadcasting Development (AIBD), Ms Hashmi was invited to the three-day conference to speak on the topic “Should all good stories be commercially successful.”
However, her name was not included in the final guest list.
“I was invited by the Asia Pacific Institute of Broadcasting Development, but the Indian authorities stopped me from attending the summit in New Delhi”, Ms Hashmi told PTI
Ms Hashmi who arrived in Delhi on May 9th said she was told that she had no reservation at the hotel and was not even registered for the summit.
She therefore moved to another hotel and later returned to Pakistan on May 12th.
While the organizers of the event continue to remain tight-lipped on the issue and have denied any knowledge of the incident, a report by the Press Trust of India claims Ms Hashmi was not allowed to attend the summit as she did not possess a conference visa needed to attend such events.
“She was issued a multiple entry visa earlier this year…It was not for last week’s event”, an official told PTI.
Meanwhile, Ms Hashmi’s son took to Twitter to express his outrage over the incident.
Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari was also quick to react.
The summit which was hosted by India was attended by 200 foreign delegates from 41 countries that deliberated over issues relating to media and broadcasting.
There was, however, no speaker from Pakistan.
