A seminar on Europe-Asia relations scheduled at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia (FCC), featuring Awami League-affiliated speakers, was cancelled at the last minute on Saturday (August 29) after the Delhi police intervened and told the organisers not to proceed with the programme due to “certain controversies”.

The event, titled “Europe and Asia: From Dialogue to a Partnership and Prosperity”, was scheduled for Saturday evening and was being organised by the FCC in collaboration with the Belgium-based Hand in Hand Foundation and other partners.

In a statement issued on Saturday evening, the organisers said the club had been “unable to host the scheduled function” because of “unexplained interventions by Delhi police”.

“The decision was communicated at short notice and is beyond the control of the organisers and the FCC South Asia,” it said.

The speakers scheduled to attend included former Indian envoy to Bangladesh Veena Sikri, former German ambassador to Dhaka Peter Fahrenholtz as well as Bangladeshi-American scientist and 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War veteran Nuran Nabi. The speakers’ list also included Czech politician and European parliament member Ondrej Dostal, who had met with MEA secretary Sibi George on Friday.

Also among those names was Salim Mahmud, a former senior office-bearer of the Bangladesh Awami League and a member of the Jatiya Sangsad for Chandpur-1 from January 2024 until Sheikh Hasina’s government fell that August.

“The organisers remain committed to promoting Europe-Asia relations, peace, prosperity, sustainable development, human rights and constructive international dialogue. We hope to organise the program at an appropriate future date and will communicate further details in due course,” said the statement, which was issued jointly by FCC president Wael Awwad and the Hand in Hand Foundation.

The Delhi police, however, has denied intervening in the event.

Deputy commissioner of police for New Delhi Sachin Sharma told The Print that the FCC does not require police permission to host panels and said: “We have not had any intervention in their programmes.”

A document seen by The Wire, however, shows that the Tilak Marg police station told the FCC that the programme was “not allowed”.

The FCC’s letter, dated August 29 and addressed to the station house officer (SHO) of the Tilak Marg police station, informed the police that the club was hosting a “seminar-cum-press conference” from 6 pm to 8 pm in collaboration with the Hand in Hand Foundation. It requested the deployment of adequate police personnel to prevent any untoward incident.

The letter was returned with a handwritten remark:

“Return with the remarks that this programme is not allowed due to certain controversies as per information.”

It bore the stamp of the Tilak Marg police station and appears to have been signed by the SHO.

The intervention is unusual because the seminar was not billed as a Bangladesh-focused event. FCC office-bearers have also said they do not recall the police intervening to stop an event at such short notice.

A.F.M. Golam Zilani, secretary general of the Hand in Hand Foundation, was also an intended speaker but was unable to travel to India because his visa had not been issued.

Speaking to The Wire on Saturday night, Zilani said his visa was still being processed and that he did not regard the matter as unusual. “I think that it’s a process,” he said. “I really admire and respect the Indian process. So, I think that they have the right to check before giving me a visa.”

He said he had no information about why the FCC event had been stopped. “If you ask the police authority, they give the right answer. We don’t have any other information,” he said.

Zilani also rejected the suggestion that the cancellation could have been connected to Bangladesh. “It’s not a Bangladesh or Indian issue,” he said. “It’s about the Europe-Asia relationship.”

Asked whether his organisation aligned with the Awami League, he categorically denied it. “No, no. That is the wrong narrative. So, it’s nothing to do with them,” he replied. He described his organisation as one that “is not a political or affiliated with any political party. But we work for the human rights and sustainable development and education.”

There is, however, a documented history of the foundation organising events involving Awami League representatives.

A 2019 report by the South Asia Democratic Forum said a conference on the Rohingya crisis at the European parliament was jointly organised by the Socialists and Democrats Group, the Belgium Awami League and the Hand in Hand Foundation. It listed Zilani as representing the Foundation.

In July this year, the European subsidiary of the Awami League reported that a seminar at the European parliament on democratic transitions, human rights and geopolitics in South Asia was organised at the initiative of the Hand in Hand Foundation and attended by the president, general secretary and other representatives of the European Awami League. It also said that Zilani attended as secretary general of the Foundation.

The police intervention comes less than four weeks after the FCC hosted former Bangladesh prime minister Hasina for her first media interaction since she was ousted from power in August 2024.

On August 5, Hasina spoke to journalists through an audio link from India at the FCC, marking the second anniversary of her removal.

The event prompted a strong protest from Dhaka, which said it was “outraged” that Hasina was allowed a platform to interact with the media in the Indian capital. New Delhi said the programme was privately organised and that the Indian government did not endorse the former PM’s remarks on the “duly constituted government”.

The incident also complicated efforts to arrange a visit to India by Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman.

Dhaka subsequently said the atmosphere for Rahman’s proposed India sojourn had been “vitiated” by Hasina’s appearance in New Delhi and that “a propitious environment needs to be created for the visit”.

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The article was originally published in The Wire. It is republished here with permission from the publication and under a special arrangement