How to trigger keydown and keyup events from external applications in VB.NET ? avoid sendkeys method

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VB

I am trying to develop a keystroke macro program using vb.net which will record keystrokes like keydown and keyup events and then play it anywhere while the main program is running in the background. As of now I have successfully captured the keystrokes and stored those strokes. But the problem which I m facing, is at the time of playing those stored keystrokes. I can't fire the KeyDown and KeyUp events from any external program. I have tried SendKeys method as well but it cannot differentiate between KeyDown and KeyUp separately. Help in this scenario will highly be appreciated.

The KeyDown event which is accessible in parent program only.

Private Sub Form1_KeyDown(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.KeyEventArgs) Handles Me.KeyDown
        'MessageBox.Show(e.KeyCode)
        'bla bla bla
End Sub

What I have tried:

Use of SendKeys but it cannot distinguish between KeyDown and KeyUp

Private Function AutoSendKey(ByVal keystroke As String, ByVal delay As Integer)     
        System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(delay)
        My.Computer.Keyboard.SendKeys(keystroke, True)
    End Function

I need an approach to trigger KeyDown and KeyUp events from external applications. Thanks in advance