The incoming Obama administration should stay away from any “high-visibility” focus on the Kashmir issue as it would likely evoke Indian resistance and risk fuelling Pakistani expectations of a settlement favouring Islamabad, a Congressional report has warned.

The report, prepared by the Congressional Research Service for American lawmakers, said the fallout of the Mumbai terror attacks, being perceived as India’s 9/11, could further complicate America’s South Asia policy.

The 19-page report titled ‘Terrorist Attacks in Mumbai, India and Implications for US Interests’, prepared in mid-December for the US lawmakers — the 111th Congress in particular — was released on Wednesday and a copy was obtained by PTI.

In seeking to revamp US’s South Asia policy, President-elect Barack Obama and his advisors may face a key central question: are conflictual relations between the region’s two largest states primarily an India-Pakistan problem or are they mainly a Pakistan problem alone, it said.

Any high-visibility US Government focus on the Kashmir issue “would risk fuelling Pakistani expectations of a future settlement favouring Pakistan, thus providing a motive for Islamabad to sustain pressure by ramping up support for Kashmiri separatists”, it said.

“The Administration of President-elect Barack Obama may seek to increase US diplomatic efforts aimed at resolving conflict between these two countries,” the Congressional report said.

It stated the basic US position that links of the Mumbai terror attack go back to LeT, whose leaders have had the patronage of the Pakistani establishment, the ISI in particular. “Potential issues for the 111th Congress with regard to India include legislation that would foster greater US-India counter-terrorism relations,” it said.

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