The two nation theory which is best summarized as “our heroes are their villains” has no doubt been hugely successful….in compounding misery of all the communities involved.. The wrongs of the past should have been dealt with a truth and reconciliation commission (just like in South Africa).  

The irony is that separation did not reduce the rancor one iota: Pakistan-India and Israel-Palestine have fought four (official) bitter wars, things are not too much better in Northern Ireland.

But when it comes to Britain herself, the answer was made clear today. Partition is never a solution to the problems, it also makes all of us poor as people. The cultural lines are never clearly drawn and purity is over-rated. Speaking of India specifically, the answer to a prosperous future is to encourage more secularism (and mixed marriages aka love jihad) not to create more ghettos and breed intolerance.

The bad blood that has been created over this partition fight will not (easily) go back into the bottle. The polls are clear on this point: the English now resent the Scots just as much as the Scots look down upon the English. The dividing lines will be sharper once a vote is announced for a Brexit from the European Union. Alex Salmond and Nigel Farage are smart ambitious politicians, they are unlikely to take no for an answer.

All that said we are happy for the Brits. Yes, it is certainly better together.
……
Scottish voters have rejected independence, deciding to remain part
of the United Kingdom after a historic referendum that shook the country
to its core.The decision prevented a rupture of a 307-year
union with England, bringing a huge sigh of relief to the British
political establishment. Scots voted 55 per cent to 45 per cent against independence in a vote that saw an unprecedented turnout.
 …..
A
majority of voters did not embrace Scottish First Minister Alex
Salmond’s impassioned plea to launch a new state, choosing instead the
security offered by remaining in the United Kingdom.
Salmond
conceded defeat, saying “we know it is a majority for the No campaign”
and called on Scots to accept the results of the vote. He said the voted “has been triumph for the democratic process.“

“If
that is the result for the referendum then clearly I am deeply
disappointed,” Scottish National Party (SNP) deputy leader Nicola
Sturgeon told the broadcaster. Votes cast for and against
Scotland’s independence in a historic referendum were running virtually
neck and neck, but leading “No“ campaigners had suggested that victory
was in sight.

Scottish
Secretary Alistair Carmichael, a “No” supporter, told AFP: “It’s early
days but it’s looking fairly good.“ Michael Gove, Conservative former
minister and confidant of Prime Minister David Cameron, told Sky News
that “fingers crossed”, the union appeared safe. “The result looks
disappointing,” admitted Patrick Harvie, a member of the Scottish
parliament for the Green Party and “Yes” campaigner.

Crowds
gathered for all-night parties in Glasgow and Edinburgh, draped in the
blue-and-white Saltire flags of Scotland and setting off flares. “We
are going to stay out till the result,” said Dylan McDonald, 17, one of
Scotland’s 16- and 17-year-olds who have been able to vote in a
referendum for the first time after the qualifying age was lowered.

The
historic decision gripped many Scots who previously took little
interest in politics, igniting passions and raising the prospect of deep
changes to the governance of the union no matter the result. Cameron
promised greater powers for Scotland’s parliament in a last-minute bid
to convince voters to stay in the union, prompting politicians in his
Conservative party to call for the same treatment for England.

He
will speak on the future of the United Kingdom as soon as the referendum
outcome is issued, and if independence is rejected he is expected to
announce plans to change the division of power in the highly-centralised
union.

Some ballot boxes were brought by helicopter and others by boat from
remote islands to be counted after polls closed, with the final result
predicted to arrive in the early hours of Friday.
The closure of the airport on the Isle of Lewis due to fog meant ballot boxes would have to travel by slower fishing boat.

At
the counting centre in Scotland’s oil city Aberdeen, boxes of postal
votes were tipped out onto tables at the stroke of 10:00 pm when polls
closed, and officials immediately began sorting the ballots.

Election
officials in Glasgow said they had contacted police over a handful of
allegations that people had turned up to vote only to find their names
already crossed off the ballot sheet.

The question for voters at
Scotland’s more than 5,000 polling stations was “Should Scotland be an
independent country?” and they are asked to mark either “Yes” or “No”.

International
media descended on the Edinburgh venue where the city’s ballots will be
totted up to witness a count that could have repercussions from Spain
to Canada.
The SNP has said it hopes for full independence by 2016
if it wins, and a range of separatist movements sent representatives to
Scotland to learn from the election.

“Scots, please, vote yes,
for yourselves, but also for us,” Daniel Turp from the Parti Quebecois
said at a press conference in Edinburgh where 29 European separatist
movements also signed a declaration calling for self-determination.

Leaders of France and Spain warned that separatism risked undermining Europe in the run-up to the vote.
A palace spokesman told Sky news Queen Elizabeth II was following events from her family home Balmoral Castle in rural Scotland. She is “kept abreast of information… from her team of advisers in London and Edinburgh,” the spokesman said.

Many people in the rest of the United Kingdom are concerned about the
prospect of Scottish independence, which would sever a deep bond and
cut the UK’s surface area by a third.

“At last the threat we have
over Scotland’s future may be lifted if people vote the right way,” said
pensioner Alistair Eastern, 60. “We just have to hope that it turns out
with the right result and Scotland isn’t ripped out of the United
Kingdom by the nationalists.”

….

Link: dawn.com/scots-reject-independence-in-historic-vote

….

regards