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New Delhi:
A bust of Noor Inayat Khan, a spy of a Second World War resistance
group and a descendant of the 18th century south Indian ruler Tipu
Sultan, will be installed at the Gordon Square in London. It will
be the first memorial of an Asian woman in Britain.
"The London University that owns the park cleared the memorial
this week," writer Shrabani Basu, who has been campaigning for her
memorial, told IANS from London.
Basu is the author of "Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan"
and the founder of the Noor Inayat Khan Memorial Trust.
The bust will be installed near the house where Noor Inayat lived
and from where she left for her last mission to France.
The approval comes after months of campaigning by the trust and a
motion tabled by Labour MP Valerie Vaz in July.
"I have been campaigning for months to get a bust of Noor Inayat
Khan installed in London. The bust will be the first memorial to
an Indian woman in Britain. It is a significant milestone," Basu
said.
"It means her memory will be preserved for future generations. It
will not only be a memorial to an inspirational Indian woman, but
also a memorial for peace, as Noor was a follower of the Sufi
faith and believed in non-violence. Noor's sacrifice will not have
been in vain," Basu said.
Thirty high-profile Asian women, including a pressure group's
director Shami Chakrabarti and film director Gurinder Chadha, had
signed a petition backing
the call for a memorial for Noor, Basu said.
"I am delighted. Noor Inayat Khan deserves this recognition," said
Valerie Vaz, who tabled the motion and personally wrote to the
Vice Chancellor Graeme Davis.
Biographer Basu said: "Noor played in Gordon Square as a child".
"As a secret agent she lived nearby on 4 Taviton Street, and would
often spend her off-days reading on one of the benches in the
square," she said.
Noor, a descendant of Tipu Sultan, was recruited by the Special
Operations Executive, a secret organisation set up by former
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
She infiltrated into France under a false identity where she
worked for the French resistance movement. She was betrayed,
captured by the Nazis, brutally tortured and killed in Dachau
concentration camp in Germany. She was 30.
She was posthumously awarded the George Cross by Britain and
France awarded her the Croix de Guerre, their highest civilian
honour. She is the only Indian woman to get the George Cross.
The bust will be sculpted by well known-sculptor Karen Newman.
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