‘India should issue stamp of WW II hero Noor Inayat'

London, Mar 26: As Britain's Royal Mail today issued a stamp of Indian-origin World War II heroine Noor Inayat Khan, campaigners called for India to bestow a similar honour on the famous spy in her centenary year.

The stamp - part of a series called 'Remarkable Lives' - honours Noor, a descendant of Tipu Sultan, along with nine others including actor Sir Alec Guinness and poet Dylan Thomas.

"It would be fitting if India too honoured Noor Inayat Khan in her centenary year with a stamp," said Shrabani Basu, chair of the Noor Inayat Khan Memorial Trust and author of "Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan".

"Though she was brought up in Paris, Noor identified strongly with her Indian roots," said Basu who led the campaign to build a memorial for Noor in London which was unveiled by Britain's Princess Anne in November 2012. Her book is now being made into a film.

"Noor believed firmly in Indian independence and frankly told her British officers that after the war was over, she would back India's freedom struggle. Sadly she did not live to see India's independence," said Basu. Noor was born in Moscow in 1914 to an Indian father, Hazrat Inayat Khan and an American mother, Ora Ray Baker.

Her father was a Sufi preacher and musician and left his home town of Baroda to take Sufism to the west. He met Noor's mother at the Ramakrishna Mission while on a lecture tour in California.

Hazrat Inayat Khan was a descendant of Tipu Sultan, the famous 18th-century ruler of the kingdom of Mysore. Noor was brought up in Paris and the family moved to London just before Paris fell to the Germans in 1940 during the Second World War. She was the first woman radio operator to be flown undercover to Paris and worked from there for three months under the code name Madeleine.

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Spain blocks arms ship from India to Israel amid ongoing Gaza genocide

News Network

May 18,2024

In a humanitarian move, Spain has refused entry to a ship carrying arms from India’s Chennai to Israel to dock at one of its ports, its Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares has said.

The Denmark-flagged cargo ship Marianne Danica sailed from Chennai on April 8 when people in Gaza were observing Ramadan fasting, and was headed to the port of Haifa in Israel, according to maritime tracking portals and Spanish media.

Spain has been extremely critical of the rising civilian casualties due to the Israeli offensive in Gaza and, along with Belgium, has suspended arms exports licenses to Tel Aviv.

Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs Randhir Jaiswal, at the weekly press conference, only said that they have seen the report of the ship and will revert with more information.

Meanwhile, a source said, “Investigation will reveal if the items on board were cleared for export and if the end user is the same as reported by The Guardian because there are items that are not banned for exports.”

Speaking to reporters in Brussels on Thursday on the issue, Mr. Albares had said, “This is the first time we have done this because it is the first time we have detected a ship carrying a shipment of arms to Israel that wants to call at a Spanish port.”

“This will be a consistent policy with any ship carrying arms to Israel that wants to call at Spanish ports. The Foreign Ministry will systematically reject such stopovers for one obvious reason: the Middle East does not need more weapons, it needs more peace,” he stated.

The ship was carrying 27 tonnes of explosives according to local reports. It was to make a port call at Cartegena in Spain.
In February, Mr. Albares said that they had suspended arms export licences to Israel since October 7, which he said made them “realise” the importance of a “fair and lasting solution” to the Palestinian cause.

The incident comes amid an ongoing row between Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s party and his coalition partners over another ship, Borkum, that was due to dock at Cartegena port on Friday over allegations that it was carrying arms meant for Israel. However, the Spanish government has said that the arms it is ferrying are meant for the Czech Republic.

Belgium had suspended two arms export licences to Israel.

“We welcome the decision of the Spanish government to deny the transit authorisation of the vessel Marianne Danica, in accordance with Tratado (treaty) on Arms Trade and Spanish law,” Amnesty International Spain said on social media platform ‘X’.

The timing also coincides with the Israeli ground offensive inside Rafah. According to the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) at least 6,30,000 Palestinians have been forced out of Rafah since the launch of the incursion on May 7.

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