“Mirchi time” for UK Top Court : Rules against Scottish Independence Referendum
Due to the scheming British Government in Skardu, nearly a third of Jammu & Kashmir got illegally occupied by Pakistan. This happened despite of Maharaja Hari Singh signing the Instrument of Merger with the Indian Union. It was the timely action of the Indian Army that saved rest of Jammu & Kashmir.
A number of British Parliamentarians, political leaders of certain variety, a Section of British Media and of course the BBC took pride in calling the State of Jammu & Kashmir as Indian Occupied Kashmir and the part with Pakistan as Azad Kashmir. They also eulogized everything in Pakistan held Gilgit & Baltistan.
However when it comes to themselves they are desperately trying to hold on to their Occupied lands. It seems certainly a “Mirchi” time for the British with respect to the entity called Great Britain which comprises England, Wales, Occupied Scotland and Occupied Northern Ireland. England had forcibly occupied Scotland a long time back. They worked out a political union in 1707, but many Scots have long bristled at what they consider a one-sided relationship dominated by England. Scottish voters have historically rejected the ruling Conservative Party at the ballot box and voted heavily – but in vain – against Brexit, intensifying arguments over the issue in the past decade.
Since 1999, Scotland has had a devolved government, meaning many, but not all, decisions are made at the SNP-led Scottish Parliament in Holyrood, Edinburgh.
The British court once again unanimously rejected an attempt by the Scottish National Party (SNP) to force a vote next October, as it did not have the approval of Britain’s parliament, reported NEWS AGENCY. The UK Supreme Court on Wednesday (local time) blocked the Scottish parliament from holding an independence vote.
The move will likely anger Scottish nationalists who say the country’s future is for Scottish voters to decide. Scotland last held a vote on the issue, with Westminster’s approval, in 2014, when voters rejected the prospect of independence by 55 per cent to 45 per cent, reported NEWS AGENCY.
The pro-independence SNP has nonetheless dominated politics north of the border in the intervening years, at the expense of the traditional, pro-union groups. Successive SNP leaders have pledged to give Scottish voters another chance to vote, particularly since the UK voted to leave the European Union in 2016.
The latest push by SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon involved holding an advisory referendum late next year, similar to the 2016 poll that resulted in Brexit. But the country’s top court agreed that even a non-legally binding vote would require oversight from Westminster, given its practical implications, reported NEWS AGENCY.
Sturgeon said she accepted the ruling, but tried to frame the decision as another pillar in the argument for secession.
“A law that doesn’t allow Scotland to choose our own future without Westminster consent exposes as myth any notion of the UK as a voluntary partnership & makes (a) case” for independence,” she wrote on Twitter.
She accused the British government of “outright democracy denial” in a speech to reporters, reported NEWS AGENCY.
Sturgeon said her next step in her effort to achieve a vote will be to brand the next British general election – scheduled for January 2025 at the latest – as a proxy referendum in Scotland on which course to take.
Meanwhile, UK’s new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak heralded the court’s “clear and definitive ruling” as an opportunity to move on from the independence debate, reported NEWS AGENCY.
“The people of Scotland want us to be working on fixing the major challenges that we collectively face, whether that’s the economy, supporting the NHS or indeed supporting Ukraine,” he said in Parliament.
