Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jagannath was scheduled to visit India in 2022. This picture is from that time.
Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jagannathan has thanked the Government of India and PM Modi after getting Chagos Island from Britain. He wrote on social media that all allies have supported him in this dispute.
According to media reports, there was a dispute between Britain and Mauritius over Chagos Island for almost 50 years. India had been trying for a long time for this agreement between the two. After the agreement, India has welcomed both sides.
Britain and Mauritius signed an agreement on Thursday regarding the 60-island Chagos Islands. According to this 'Chagos Island' will be given to Mauritius.
Also on the Chagos Islands is Diego Garcia Island. America and Britain have established a joint military base here. According to the agreement, the US-UK base will remain here for 99 years.
Mauritius did not get Chagos even after independence Mauritius gained independence from Britain in 1968. But, Britain did not give up its claim on Chagos Island. Mauritius claimed the island as its own. In the year 2017, there was a vote in the United Nations regarding Chagos Island.
94 countries including India voted in favor of Mauritius and 15 countries in favor of Britain. In 2019, the International Court of Justice also declared this island a part of Mauritius.
Britain leased Diego Garcia Island to America, becoming a military base
In 1966, before the independence of Mauritius, the United States gave Diego Garcia Island to Britain on a 50-year lease. The lease was extended for another 20 years in 2016.
The US maintains an air and naval base at Diego Garcia. For this, America evicted thousands of people settled here and sent them to Britain and Mauritius.
According to an Al Jazeera report, in 2022 the Lease Truss government started talks between Mauritius. However, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the Conservative Party opposed the initiative. Johnson said China could build a base here after handing over the island to them.
There was a dispute between Britain and America regarding Diego Garcia In October 2021, about 100 people were fleeing from Sri Lanka to Canada. But their boat ran aground in bad weather near Diego Garcia. After this the people of the boat decided to land on Diego Garcia Island. But after reaching here, he was captured by American soldiers.
People who escaped from Sri Lanka and reached Diego Garcia Island were captured by the US Army.
The BBC then approached Diego Garcia and asked for permission to report on this but the US refused. A British court was hearing about this but the US asked to stop it citing security.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
