Re: Is South Asian unity between Pakistanis and Indians possible?
Most Pakistanis are Indians who practice Islam anyway. Who are you kidding? The majority of Pakistan is Punjabi + Sindhi whose forefathers accepted Islam yet still continued to practice the Indic culture. As for the Urdu speakers, their culture is much more Indian,despite SOME foreign ancestry. A few centuries of Mughal rule has Indianized the Persian, Pakhtun, and Central Asian bloodlines.
Go to any 'Pakistani' event or function change around the names and they looks lndian. In many cases its hard to tell the difference between the two. Especially Punjabis.
Baluchis, Pakhtuns and SOME Kashmiris (not 'Mirpuris' who are really pseudo Punjabis) are truly distinct from "Indian" cultures. This is isn't a point of pride, just has to do with the geographic demarcations. Interestingly Kashmiris also have a hindu heritage not too different from Punjabis and Sindhis, yet their cultural evolution was on a very different trajectory than what is now considered Indian culture. If you proscribe to the Aryan Invasion theory, perhaps Kashmiris are purest in that sense.
The bottom line fro Pakistan is Islam. Without Islam as the state religion you might as well merge Punjab and Sindh with India, no difference to me.