Diego Garcia :Footprint of Freedom

Diego Garcia is an island in Chagos Archipelago of the British Indian Ocean Territory. It is an overseas territory of the United kingdom. Despite the dispute between Mauritius and the

United kingdom as of now it is being controlled by the United Kingdom. It is located just south of the Equator in the central Indian ocean. Apart from these what makes this a good strategic location is, it lies just a 4 hour flight away from most of the Middle east, South Asia, Oceania.

Back in the 60's the archipelago and Mauritius were under British colonial rule. As world war 2 just ended and all the other colonies of Britain started to receive independence even Mauritius was to be released as a new country. In 1968 when Mauritius was on verge of receiving independence from years of colonial rule.

At the same time America and the USSR  were in a cold war post world war 2. Both nations were stockpiling nuclear weapons and were fighting through proxy wars in other nations like

Korean peninsula. east and west Europe. It was then that America realized that post Britain's fall in South Asia USSR might be influential and felt the need for a base in the Indian ocean to operate and keep the Russians in check. They expressed their need to Britain and their suitable lonely base was found in the archipelago "DIEGO GARCIA".  As per USA request UK had bifurcated Mauritius into Mauritius and Chagos archipelago. Thus the BIOT (British Indian ocean territory) was formed.

The island was leased to the United states government in 1966 for a 50 year lease just 2 years before Mauritius got independence, the lease allowed the US government to remove the local

people and build an exclusive air and navy commands. Between 1968 and  1973 UK&US removed over 930 tribals from the island forcefully to establish a base. The locals were deported from their own island to Mauritius and Seychelles. A total number of 3000 people have been removed from the archipelago.Till date no civilian is allowed onto the island base.

The base has served for mankind's worst human right violations after 9/11 during the US INVASION OF AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ in 2001 and 2003 respectively. This was the base which operated bombers in the middle east region. It was also one of the base for KIDNAP AND TORTURE POLICY of CIA for suspects and others under trail. Suspects were usually flown into the base and then questioned by various US authorities like CIA and FBI as a part of WAR ON TERROR  ironically this war on terror was very much filled with acts terror by the united states itself.This base is also famous for its theoretical involvement in the missing plane MH370's case.

Both US&UK governments have lied to their citizens saying that there was no torture being practiced on the island which was illegal according to UK's law but on reality the secret

agencies were operating in this lonely base with very high freedom to torture. Many high ranking officials from US governments have admitted that the base is used to for torture and extraditions of suspects.

The base was supposed to end its term in 2016 post the lease ending but the UK-US governments have negotiated to extend the lease upto 2036 for 20 more years. Which means that the natives can not return to their homeland for 50 more years. The Chagossians have been fighting the case legally for decades now.

Already by now the UN COURT has given a verdict saying that the archipelago belongs to Mauritius. Yet the UK has not complied with the UN court and has continued to lease the island to the US for 20 more years.

As UN  court and UN has said the archipelago belongs to the Mauritius, the US&UK have been trying to team up with India and Australia to develop this base and turn the case into their favor as most developed countries support US&UK there would be no voice left for the UN COURT  as it is not mandatory for the countries to comply. And in between all this tussle for the geo-political power and war for peace the locals of the archipelago have lost their homeland and livelihood.