India, Oct. 12 -- The historic political agreement between the United Kingdom (UK) and Mauritius on exercising sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago, a group of islands in the Indian Ocean, which Britain considers strategically important, is a significant development. The UK has agreed to return the Chagos Islands, Britain's last colony in Africa, to Mauritius, thus completing the decolonisation of Mauritius.

But this diplomatic breakthrough did not come along suddenly. It is critical to recall that in 1964, to serve security interests, the UK and the United States (US) decided that Diego Garcia, the largest island of the Chagos Archipelago, would be an ideal site to establish an American military base. To effectuate this, the UK in 19...