Written by: Hamid Muhammadi
The preservation of the territorial integrity and historical unity of countries is also one of the fundamental principles that hold vital importance for the survival, stability, and collective progress of human societies. Whenever, in any geography, the call for division and separation is raised by some individuals based on personal interests or misguided thoughts, in reality, that country is being led toward internal enmities and crises whose outcome is nothing but social destruction. History has shown that the establishment of borders and lines in countries never solves problems; rather, it sows the seeds of new, complex, and eternal conflicts among the country’s inhabitants.
The first and biggest intellectual mistake of the separatists is that they consider new and small borders as a path to security and prosperity. While in today’s civilized world, the strength of countries lies in strong unity and large economic and cultural geographies. Dividing a unified country into small and island-like regions weakens the economic capacity and political weight of these new areas, which eventually become subservient to superpowers. Such newly created structures face serious geographical and financial limitations and naturally fall into the traps of regional powers for self-preservation, which turns this into a permanent and bitter dependency.
Another serious aspect is the complex and intertwined state of ethnic and cultural geographies that has emerged over centuries of cohabitation, relationships, and kinship. When different ethnic groups have lived alongside each other in a shared land for centuries, they create a unified cultural structure that is easily disrupted, leading to catastrophe. According to the personal desires of the opponents, every plan for division is actually intentionally aimed at ethnic cleansing, forced and painful migrations, and igniting the flames of perpetual internal wars. But the opponents will face severe failure in these objectives.
The demand for secession poses a serious threat to the stability of the entire geography and the lives of people, but since opponents benefit from such situations, they are calling for it. The disintegration of a well-known historical country creates a vacuum of a united nation, turning its geography into a battleground for foreign countries’ proxy wars and intelligence games. With the weakening of regimes or the division of countries, the regional security balance is disrupted, and instead of a stable geography, the people of those areas face new waves of armed conflicts, smuggling, and instability, becoming the primary victims of this situation.
A group of opponents, who can also be identified as separatists, often present their demands under deceptive slogans of justice and the restoration of rights to attract public attention. We must show the opponents that the path to achieving the rights and justice they advocate as slogans does not lie in undermining the territorial integrity of the country, but rather in strengthening unity, establishing legitimate governance, and in the collective will and practical work of nation-building.
When the Soviet Union was defeated in Afghanistan and the country was plunged into civil wars due to the conflicts among power-hungry politicians, these same politicians put the nation at risk of disintegration. They sought to draw lines of ethnicity or party colors among the faithful and Mujahid people, to divide Afghanistan, and to secure their personal interests in small territories. But Allah, adorned with faith and piety, drowned this ambition; however, the opponents still dream of division.
The historical and civilizational identity of every country is a great trust of the collective efforts, generations, and sacrifices of all its residents. Success, peace, and prosperity are not found in division and separation, but in collective determination and the acceptance and continuation of existing diversity. Strengthening the culture of national unity against the voices of separatists is the responsibility of every conscientious citizen. Only a strong and united country can provide a comfortable, secure, and permanent life for all its residents.
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