Why do Kashmiri-Pandits (Hindus) give so much respect to Sikhs?

Kashmiri Pandits requested Guru Teg who came forward to fight this cruelty of converting non-Muslims by force

Sikhism as a religion was born to protect mankind from evil….. Kashmiri Pandits/Suresh Verma

Aurangzeb, The Mughal Emperor cherished the ambition of converting India into an Islamic country. The viceroy of Kashmir, Iftikhar Khan (1671–1675) carried out the policy vigorously and set about converting non-Muslims by force.

Kashmiri Pandits (Kashmiri Hindu Brahmins),  approached GuruTegh Bahadur Ji for help. Guru Tegh Bahadur realised that sacrifice is needed to stop the injustice being done in India by the Mughul empror. He adviced the kashmiri pandits to tell the Mughal authorities that they would willingly embrace Islam if Tegh  Bahadur did the same. Pandit Kirpa Singh Dutt (d. 1705) was the son of Bhai Aru Ram, a Sarasvat Brahman of Matan, 65 KM east of Srinagar, in Kashmir. Aru Ram had met Guru Har Rai and sought his blessing at the time of the latter's visit to Kashmir in 1660.

Aurangzeb issued the orders of the arrest of the Guru Tegh Bahadur. The Guru was arrested at a place called Malikhpur near Anandpur after he had departed from Anandpur for Delhi. Before departing he  nominated his son, Gobind Rai (Guru Gobind Singh) as the next Sikh Guru. Along with Guru Tegh Bahadur, also arrested his followers: Bhai Dayala, Bhai Mati Das and Bhai Sati Das and sent to Sirhind the following day.

 The Faujdar (Governor) of Sirhind, Dilawar Khan, ordered him to be detained in Bassi Pathana and reported the news to Delhi.  His arrest was made in July 1675 and he was kept in custody for over  three months. He was then kept in an iron cage and taken to Delhi in  November 1675.

The Guru was put in chains and ordered to be tortured until he would accept Islam. When he could not be persuaded to abandon his faith to  save himself from persecution, he was asked to perform some miracles to  prove his divinity.

Refusing to do so,Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji was beheaded in  public at Chandni Chowk on 24 November 1675. The Guru is also known as "Hind Di Chadar" i.e. "The Shield of India", suggesting that he gave up his life to protect the religious freedom of non Muslims in Mughal India. The three sikhs arrested with him were also tortured to death by boiling in hot water, cutting by saw and burning alive.

Some Kashmiri Pandits left the country willingly in search of "meadows and pastures new" and some were forced to leave the country by the exigencies of times. They spread over the whole of the Indian sub-continent.