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 from 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 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 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 in turn providing a motive for Islamabad to sustain pressure by ramping up support for Kashmiri separatists,’ it said.