What Scotland voting No to independence means for the world
So the Scotts said No to independence (how crazy are they!) from the United Kingdom. We said Yes in 1947, even though nobody really asked us. But the funny thing is that despite saying No, Scotland seems to be more independent than we are after saying Yes. The Scottish vote also seems to have inspired Bilawal Bhutto into his Kashmir rant – let’s keep hold of what we already have, shall we?
Not just politically, there is a lot that we can learn from the Scottish vote, in any field of life. Here are some of the most crucial lessons for anyone and everyone. And there are quite a few important aspects that have come to the fore as a result of the Scottish vote.
Independence doesn’t necessarily mean separation
If all separatist movements in the country achieved their goals, then Pakistan would be reduced to a small town in Punjab. Scotland is free, its people are free. And they collectively decided that sticking together with the United Kingdom was in the best interest of the country – how many separatists in Pakistan, or the Muslim world, would do that?
Saying No isn’t always bad
A lot of us have a problem saying No to people. Scotland just showed how saying No to something as big as independence can work in one’s favour as well. Saying No maybe hard, but sometimes it’s absolutely necessary.
Wimbledon doesn’t need to restart looking for a British champion
Andy Murray might have backtracked at the 11th hour, but we all know what he voted. Had his verdict been the popular one, Wimbledon would have had to restart looking for the first British champion since Fred Perry. Now that Scotland has decided that it is going to remain British, this in turn means that Murray is going to remain British. So now the biggest tennis question for Britain is whether or not Murray will capitulate every summer henceforth.
God might continue saving the queen
Had the entire population of Scotland stopped praying for the queen’s safety, it might not have boded well for Her Majesty. Now that Scotland is still a part of Britain, God should continue to save the queen.
Bilawal might stop eying foreign territory
Someone must have given the poor chap some bad advice, but one would think that some of it might be owing to the Scottish vote. Bilawal might now focus on ensuring that it keeps dreaming taking Karachi back from MQM instead of wanting to take Kashmir back from India.
Revenge for India partition is still being awaited
A lot of the people of the Indian subcontinent would have hoped that UK got a taste of its own medicine. These people wanted UK to go through what India and Pakistan had to witness in 1947. Even though there might not have been that many refugees or bloodshed, but still the loss of land, friends and loved ones might have given Britain a glimpse of its colonial past. Unfortunately, the Scots bottled it.
Balochistan isn’t going anywhere
With Scotland saying no, the odds that the United Nations would be allowing other separatists to vote on their independence have tarnished. However, this does mean that we won’t be losing Balochistan anytime soon. Because you know with a non-existent turnout in last elections, we know what Balochistan would have voted for. And of course the turnout for an independence vote would have included almost every other person who had not taken part in Pakistani general elections last year.
The writer is planning a trip to UK soon and is thankful that he won’t have to apply for Scottish visa separately. All side effects of The Horizontal Column are the readers’ headache.