I have to wonder, your stance on Kashmir. How much did it stem from this bigotry and the internal situation of the state-the stance that is against cessation of Kashmir to Pakistan and for total independence.
The Kashmiri State prior to 1947 ran on Sikh/Hindu Extremist under feudalism, religion was used to keep to status quo and power structure in place - the Maharaja and his family, and so on; the need to capitalise on power and money became more and more transparent as time went on. However, the Kashmiri people, as a people, have always been one - it was never the common Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist that oppressed one another, but was the tyrants in place that abused and exploited a religion for their personal benefits. Extremism benefits those at the top, we saw that with the rise of fascism in early 20th century Europe.
Today, in some degree, the reverse is true -- there is a minority of extremist militants (and I know I'll get a lot of flack for saying this: the vast majority are sponsored by the ISI) that attempt to break the harmonic social fabric of Kashmir, the expulsion of the Hindu Pandits is a day of darkness, in the same regard as the massacres of muslims by the Maharaja. Today, we also see a two-sided exploitation of religion - one by the Indian State to make it easier for their armies to commit atrocities (the "them and us", bharat mata chanting, chest beating ugliness so Hindu/Sikh soldiers of
Indian regiments find it easier to be cold and calculating) - and one by smaller extremist groups. Both are backed by non-Kashmiris -- in the middle, it is us, the Kashmiris, that suffer, as it has been for decades and indeed, the last two centuries.
Now, the Kashmiri Struggle hasn't erupted after 1947 - it was in place before that, the Quit Kashmir movement along with smaller uprisings before that and so on. It was a struggle against feudalism, bigotry and oppression. It does not matter what the colour, race, creed or religion of a tyrant is that - it is simply a tyrant. The current struggle is a continuation of the struggle of the past, it is the same thing -- we, the Kashmiri people, are asking for our collective rights, whether we be Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist or Sikh.
What also must be remembered that is in 1947 it was Kashmiris that rose up against the Maharaja, it was the Azad Kashmir Regiment, the Gilgit Scouts, and the common people in the face of great adversity -- of ethnic cleansing, against genocide.
Our goal as a people must be (apart from liberation) must be of compassion, progress and tolerance. The quote in my signature will sum this up better:
"For us, Azadi (independence) means not just getting rid of foreign occupation of our beloved motherland but also to remove hunger, poverty, ignorance and disease and to overcome economic and social deprivation.." ~ Maqbool Bhat.
When I, personally, say that I am a nationalist, I do not mean that I am singular and close minded in my political affiliation; Kashmiri Nationalism is a love for all the peoples of Kashmir, to empathise with their problems and to try to commit oneself to the service of the collective rather than oneself -- that's Kashmiriyat.