Published : 30 Aug 2026, 10:35 PM
Updated : 08 Sep 2026, 09:37 AM
A seminar featuring a former Awami League lawmaker has been cancelled in New Delhi after police told organisers the programme was “not allowed due to certain controversies”, less than a month after Sheikh Hasina’s appearance at the same venue triggered protests from Bangladesh.
The event was scheduled for Saturday evening at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club (FCC) of South Asia, in collaboration with Belgium-based Hand in Hand Foundation.
Among the speakers was Salim Mahmud, a former senior Awami League office-bearer and former MP for Chandpur-1, according to reports in the Indian media.
But the FCC told its members hours before the programme that Delhi Police had stopped it from going ahead, ThePrint reported.
A document obtained by ThePrint appears to support that account.
The FCC had written to Tilak Marg Police Station seeking security arrangements for the seminar-cum-press conference. The letter was returned with the handwritten remark that the programme was “not allowed due to certain controversies as per information”, and carried the police station’s stamp.
Delhi police, however, have denied intervening.
New Delhi Deputy Commissioner of Police Sachin Sharma told ThePrint that the FCC did not require police permission to hold panel discussions.
“We have not had any intervention in their programmes,” he said.
FCC President Waiel Awwad said he did not know why the programme had been stopped, describing it as an intellectual discussion focused on partnership and development.
The organisers separately blamed “unexplained interventions by Delhi police” and said the decision had been communicated at short notice.
They said they hoped to hold the programme at a later date.
Who Was Supposed to Speak?
The programme, titled “Europe and Asia: From Dialogue to a Partnership and Prosperity”, was not formally billed as a Bangladesh political event.
Alongside Mahmud, the speakers included former Indian high commissioner to Bangladesh Veena Sikri, former German ambassador Peter Fahrenholtz, Bangladeshi-American scientist and Liberation War veteran Nuran Nabi, Czech politician Ondřej Dostál and Rohingya rights activist Rabi Alam.
Hand in Hand Foundation Secretary General AFM Golam Zilani was also scheduled to participate but told The Wire that his Indian visa had not yet been issued.
Zilani denied that his organisation was aligned with the Awami League and said the event was about Europe-Asia relations rather than Bangladesh or Indian politics.
The Wire, however, reported that the foundation has previously helped organise events involving Awami League representatives.
It cited a 2019 European Parliament conference on the Rohingya crisis involving the Belgium Awami League and a July 2026 seminar attended by senior European Awami League figures.
Hasina Event Casts Shadow
The cancellation comes less than four weeks after the FCC hosted an event at which outed prime minister Sheikh Hasina addressed journalists through an audio link from India.
Her Aug 5 appearance, marking two years since her government was toppled, was her first media interaction since going into exile in India.
Ahead of that programme, Bangladesh sought clarification from New Delhi and warned that political activity by Hasina from Indian territory could harm bilateral relations. India responded that the FCC was a private media organisation and the government had no involvement in the event.
Afterwards, India again distanced itself from Hasina’s remarks, saying it neither organised the programme nor endorsed comments made there about Bangladesh’s government.
A source at the FCC told ThePrint that the controversy surrounding Hasina’s appearance may have influenced the handling of Saturday’s seminar, although Delhi Police have not publicly given such an explanation.
The Wire also noted that the Hasina event had complicated efforts to arrange a visit to India by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, with Dhaka subsequently saying the atmosphere for such a trip had been “vitiated”.
