Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Saturday, April 20th, 2024

The Power of Unity

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The Power of Unity

There is nothing the enemies fear more than Unity in Afghanistan; their number one tactic is to keep the fire of discord burning in this country. They know the power of a nation if they are united. Therefore, the religion, race, location, language and mass-ignorance have been frequently used by them as basic tools. Many times, they applied their wicked strategies through a series of deadly attacks on Shia and Sunni peaceful mosques but luckily failed to reach their sinister goals. With attacking on the mosques and killing dozens of innocents, they also proved that neither they are committed to Islamic teaching and nor to national or international values.
However, there has been no significant action taken place to ensure institutionalization of solidarity in this country. There are many factors like discrimination, injustice and corruptions which expand the social gaps. Sometimes, discriminations are intentionally created by power competitors between the ethnic groups to reach the power and control the country. One of the main reasons of civil wars in Afghanistan was the involvement of external factors in interior affairs. It is widely believed by citizens that essentially Afghan people do not have any problems among them from the point of view of ethnicity and they have proved many times that they are united and they have defended their country and combated against the great powers. During the civil wars, Afghan people from different nations were helping each other to stay alive and they have given shelters to the other ones (from different ethnic groups), in order to save their lives. It means that, they were not ethnic groups fighting with each other; they were leaders who collected and abused the illiterate and poor people as an army to fight against each other.
No nation has ever reached the blessing of unity without social justice. It is highly important that new generation of Afghanistan deeply believe that social justice and meritocracy are an underlying principle for peaceful and prosperous coexistence within and among nations. We uphold the principles of social justice when we promote rights of minority groups, gender equality, children and other vulnerable people. Genuinely, we cannot become one unless we remove all barriers that people face because of gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture or disability. Also, the government should advance social justice to remove barriers that people face because of gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture, disability and replacing traditional with legal justice system. The noteworthy is that only legal justice saves a person from arbitrariness of course and ensures provision of justice to anyone, anywhere.
The leaders should realize that unity is beyond slogans or paternal advices!  It is not achieved unless we truly believe in it and know that there is a common Law that one should love his neighbor as himself. Promotion of this feeling is crucial to lead the nation or the world towards its progress, prosperity and sincere brotherhood. It is the only way that can increase trust, sympathy and collaboration against vices like corruption, discrimination and violence. It gives people sense of security so as to know each other better and understand each other’s sensitivity. It can unite and promotes co-operation and opens opportunity to excellence. People residing in Afghanistan, somewhat, belong to different castes, religion and ethnic origins. This diversity of caste, colors, religions, languages and cultures is our own identity. They are like different flowers in a garden. The beauty of the garden lies in the varieties of its flowers and fragrance. This is the unique feature of Afghanistan. Whatever caste, creed, culture and customs we follow, we are all Afghani the beautiful flowers of the same garden. We should think that the progress of the country is our own progress, the pain of our neighbor is our own pain and if somebody is victimized by act of terror tomorrow will be our turn.
Also we need to learn that it was the power of unity that changed the destiny many super powers like: United Nations, European Union, NATO and so on. No nation can be supper power or dignified alone; In Africa, When the Apartheid of Republic of South Africa celebrated 20 years of independence on May 31, 1981, the theme of the celebrations was "unity in diversity" as a cynical attempt to explain away the inequalities in South African life but Anti-apartheid campaigners opposed these celebrations and called on runners of the Comrades Marathon to protest at the co-option of the event by wearing a black armband. The winner of the race, Bruce Fordyce, was one of those wearing a black armband. This term has since been incorporated into the preamble of the 1996 Constitution of South Africa as a central tenet of the new South Africa. In short, we should believe if there is no unity, no rescue.
Unity and national integration  must be the  main  agenda  of  the  country government,  especially  the  country’s  leaders. Various genuine mottos and programs need to be organized for the purpose of fostering unity and relationship among races by means of various policies. In addition, it is the responsibility of religious scholar, ministry of culture and education to aware new generation differentiates between general peaceful spirit of holy Quran and hatred interpretations imposed by extremists. We must accept unity in diversity as one of unbreakable principle in our social and political platforms. We must be cautious that religious fathwa (degree) is only issued by credible addresses under certain terms and conditions. Finally, we should understand that we are as powerful as we are united, as powerless as we are divided!

Mohammad Zahir Akbari is the newly emerging writer of the Daily Outlook Afghanistan. He can be reached at mohammadzahirakbari@gmail.com

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