Our Foreign Office has expressed the hope that President Obama in his forthcoming visit to India would call for the resolution of the Kashmir conflict. Lets hope he does. The Foreign Office has also stated that Islamabad would be pleased if President Obama appoints a Special Representative on Kashmir. The President had of course during his electoral campaign talked about resolving the Kashmir issue in line with the wishes of the people, and had also referred to its as one of his 'critical tasks. However, to the utter disappointment of all those who had believed in his promise of change, he effectively dumped the issue as soon as he stepped into the Oval office. It is pretty much clear that the outcome of Obamas trip to India is a foregone conclusion as far as Kashmir is concerned. President Obama is controlled by the powerful lobbies in the US and also the fact that the US preference is to look after its strategic interests in the region, not to mention the economic cooperation with India, so he would fight shy of uttering a single word on the conflict. Yet, there is no doubt that by deliberately ignoring this nuclear flashpoint, and keeping silent on the issue which indeed amounts to giving New Delhi a pat on the back for its illegal occupation, President Obama would be harming stability in the region. Given his guilty silence and the way he has backtracked on the issue, the President is turning a blind eye to the reality that there have been wars between Pakistan and India and that the future is totally uncertain in view of the prevailing conflagration in the valley. Besides, as the Mumbai attacks have shown, the spillover effect of all that is going on in the valley, cannot be avoided or prevented and would continue to take its toll on the peace and calm of South Asia indefinitely. The Foreign Office must be commended for urging President of the United States to hammer sense into his Indian buddies. However, we at our own end need to get tough with New Delhi, especially in the context of the composite dialogue. Most important of all, the stubborn and totally irrational attitude of the Indian leaders should bring home the point that it is better to discontinue the dialogue process at least for the time being. Unfortunately, in the recent past, we have even been going to the negotiating table and accepting humiliating Indian terms about relegating Kashmir to the background and instead talking about terrorism. Regardless of the fact whether Obama talks about Kashmir or not, it should be our own leaders who should now be raising their voice.