World awaits for a sovereign Scotland

By Navaid Hamid :

Though maneuvered to sign away the sovereignty of Scotland on the first day of May, 1707 and bullied to become part of the political union of United Kingdom of Great Britain after centuries of wars on ground, sea and at intellectual level, with a promise of riches and glory of the great empire whose sun never set, the Scottish people had not only preserved their distinct culture, language, traditions and religious institution but had also preserved distinct jurisdiction in public and private laws with a separate Legal system parallel to that of England which ultimately helped in maintaining a fire of nationalism in the hearts of Scots.

This fire of Scottish nationalism was so deep that even after nearly three centuries, the Scots were able to burn the upper layer of the political bond with a successful referendum of having a separate Scottish Parliament with an independent authority on many areas of home affairs in 1999, two years after the results of the vote, and the Scots cleared the first hurdle for regaining lost sovereignty by winning a first crusade for Independence, though limited.

With renewed assertions they continued to march on the path for which generations of nationalists had dreamed for a complete sovereignty and independence from the bondage of Britain. The year 2011 saw one more step towards the dreamed independence when the nationalists under the banner of Scottish Nationalist Party (SPN) won an overall majority in the Scot’s Parliament. For annalists it was a surprising development but for Scots it was a right opportunity to assert, once again, with vigor to work for a distinct possibility.

One of the first thing the SPN did after assuming the reigns of power in Scotland was to announce a democratic rebellion against the UK with an announcement for the year 2014 , as the year for referendum for complete sovereignty and independence from Britain and punches the UK government to a tight corner which faces a weak economy, failed war in Afghanistan and a hostile nationalists in Middle East.

The democratic rebellion by the Scots is the biggest threat to cohesion and the integrity of United Kingdom of Britain in last sixty three years, since the cessation and independence of Ireland in the year 1949 when it had even left the Commonwealth after becoming sovereign.

The worry for the Britain and the conservative government of Prime Minister David Cameroon can be judged from the statement of the PM in which he had emphasised for the need to preserve unity and had cautioned the Britons, “Something very special is in danger. The danger comes from the determination of the Scottish National Party to remove Scotland from our shared home.” While reminding the Scots about the strength of unity he argued, “I believe that England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are stronger together than they would ever be apart,” but ironically he forgets about Britain’s support to South Sudan’s nationalists and the nationalists of East Timor in recent past.

What PM Cameroon forgets is the zeal of the cunning leadership of SPN under Alex Salmond. Reports gives insight of the strength of Scotland’s shrewd statesman who had maintained an impressive track record in governance and had worked for and had touched the nerve of its voting base by protecting the Gaelic language which is the language of most Scots who comprises 89 percent of the total population of Scotland and had included the history of Scottish battles in curriculum.

Like in the war of independence of Bangladesh, the world once again sees the importance of distinct culture and language playing an important part of nationalism and struggle for freedom. As the Bengali’s had maintained and considered the geographical, cultural and linguistic gap between their population and that of the erstwhile rulers of Pakistan, the Scots considers London and English language and culture more closer to Brussels and Amsterdam than to any of their own cities.

The SPN leadership wishes to fulfill the pledges and assurances it had given to the Scots that includes expelling British nuclear fleet from Scott waters, recalling Scottish regiments from British forces stationed overseas and withdrawal from NATO. They aspire to walk free from the shadow of Britain and act on and formulate their own stand and strategies in world forums of UN and IMF. For independent Scots, the SPN had pledged to imitate a low tax policy and had assured its followers that sovereign Scotland would survive economically because of their absolute rights on the Northern Sea oils.

Though 2014 is still two years away but there are minute possibilities of Scots reverting back to the pre 2011 era as some body had rightly pointed out, “The people who win the war forget it immediately. The people who lose the war – never forget” and that only reflects in the history of the struggle of the Scottish nationalists.

(The writer is founder secretary, South Asian Council for Minorities (SACM) and can be reached at navaidhamid@gmail.com / http://navaidhamid.blogindia.com/)