Moneeza Hashmi, the daughter of poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, was denied entry as a speaker at a media summit in New Delhi, as per media reports.

Moneeza Hashmi, 72, a Pakistani television and media personality, was listed as a speaker at the 15th Asia Media Summit in New Delhi between May 10 and 12.

As per The Hindu reports, Moneeza’s name was missing from the final list of speakers released by the Government of India.

However, the organisers in New Delhi denied Moneeza’s claims and said that they are not even aware of any such incident. Press Information Bureau (PIB) chief Sitanshu Kar said that he was not aware of any such incident, while 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 mediapersons”.

Monneza Hashmi’s son, Ali Hashmi, took to Twitter to register his protest and tagged Prime Minister’s Office and Sushma Swaraj along with a News 18 report saying, “@PMOIndia @SushmaSwaraj.  This is your #ShiningIndia?? My 72 year old mother, daughter of #Faiz denied permission to participate in conference after being officially invited #Shame”.

@PMOIndia @SushmaSwaraj
This is your #ShiningIndia??
My 72 year old mother, daughter of #Faiz denied permission to participate in conference after being officially invited#Shamehttps://t.co/9bnc0E2OZd

— Ali Hashmi (@Ali_Madeeh) May 12, 2018

“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 said on Sunday.

“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).

More than 200 foreign delegates attended the summit hosted by India for the first time, with 54 speakers but there was no representative from Pakistan, as per media reports.

(With agency inputs)