Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s daughter ‘denied’ entry at Delhi media summit despite being invited

Lahore: The daughter of revered Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz on Sunday claimed that Indian authorities denied her entry into a media summit in New Delhi where she was invited as a speaker. Moneeza Hashmi, 72, an eminent Pakistani television and media personality, was listed as a speaker at the 15th Asia Media Summit in New Delhi between May 10 and 12.

Organisers in New Delhi, however, denied the charge and said that they were not even aware of any such incident. Press Information Bureau chief Sitanshu Kar said that he was not aware of any such incident.

The Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) Director KG Suresh said: "I am not even aware of it, of this entire incident. I also came to know about it only through media persons".

Hashmi left India for Lahore on Saturday after she was barred from attending the summit.

"I was invited by the Asia-Pacific Institute of Broadcasting Development (ABID) but the Indian authorities stopped me from attending the summit in New Delhi," Moneeza told reporters here today.

"I was to speak 'Should All Good Stories be Commercially Successful' along with three other speakers in the summit but I was refused entry," she claimed.

Hashmi said that on her arrival on May 9 in New Delhi, she was told that she had no booking of the hotel and she was not registered.

"The organisers apologised. I stayed in another hotel and left for Lahore on May 12," she added.

The summit was hosted in New Delhi from May 10-12 in which representatives from nearly 40 countries delved on issues related to the media sector.

The summit was hosted by the Information and Broadcasting (I-B) Ministry, jointly with the IIMC, and public sector firm Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Ltd (BECIL).