A Congressional Research Service (CRS) report, The Kashmir Dispute: Recent Developments and US Policy, authored by Barbara Leitch LePoer, an American analyst in Asian Affairs, Foreign Affairs and National Defence Division, summarised that for the past half-century, relations between India and Pakistan have foundered on the dispute over the former princely state of Kashmir. The United States supports a peaceful, bilateral solution of the Kashmir issue, which takes into account the wishes of the Kashmiri people. The US is also concerned about the potential for wider conflict between nuclear-capable India and Pakistan, continuing human rights violations in Kashmir, and the negative effect on the economic and social development of the region resulting from the lack of amicable and cooperative relations between India and Pakistan.

Kashmir has been divided by a military line of control since 1948, into the Indian [occupied] state of Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan-controlled Azad (Free) Kashmir. Since 1990, widespread human rights violations by Indian security forces in Kashmir have been documented by both international and Indian human rights organisations, including mass arrests, indiscriminate firing on civilians, rape, burning of business and residential neighbourhoods, and the torture and execution of prisoners in custody. Human rights violations by [Indian backed] militant groups have also been documented.

The All-Parties Hurriyat Conference [APHC], an umbrella organisation of about 30 groups opposed to Indian rule in Kashmir, has launched effective mass strikes and demonstrations, but also has spoken out against "errants" and "criminals" who have entered the militant ranks. The APHC proposes convening a tripartite conference on Kashmir, which will include India, Pakistan, and representatives of the Kashmiri people. Its leaders have also demanded Kashmiri representation at any talks on Kashmir between India and Pakistan.

In October 1995, the [Indian] government of then-Prime Minister Rao announced plans to restart the political process in Kashmir by holding state assembly elections scheduled for December of that year. Since July 1990, Jammu and Kashmir has been governed under President's rule (rule by India's central government), which has been extended by [Indian] Parliament every six months. The APHC and other Kashmiri groups rejected holding any elections other than a UN-supervised plebiscite. The National Conference (NC) also opposed the polls. In any event, following a visit to the [Jammu and Kashmir] state to assess the situation, the three-member Indian Election Commission unanimously ruled, on November 11, 1995, that conditions in Kashmir were not consistent with the conduct of free and fair elections.

India's 1996 parliamentary elections brought to power Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda at the head of a United Front left-centre coalition government, and in Jammu and Kashmir State, Indian government included voting to fill the six parliamentary seats on May 7, 23, and 30, 1996. In the areas of the Kashmir Valley, the Indian press reported that people were forced out of their homes by the [Indian] security forces, herded to the polling stations, and made to vote.

In June 1996, the Deve Gowda government announced its plans to restore "maximum autonomy" to the [Jammu and Kashmir] state under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which has been greatly eroded under successive Indian governments. The APHC rejected the proposal as not meeting the demand of the Kashmiri people for their right of self-determination, however, the NC welcomed the [Indian] government's offer.

On August 7, 1996, the Indian Election Commission stated the elections would be held in four phases, with polling for the 87 seats on September 7, 16, 21, and 30. The APHC rejected the state assembly elections. Also, a Pakistan spokesman denounced the scheduled assembly elections saying ". . . this is a misdirected effort because in the presence of such a large number of troops and in the presence of so much repression, it is not possible to hold objective elections." Despite US and British urging, Governor Rao (India's military governor of Kashmir) ruled out official foreign election observers.

The longstanding U. S. policy on the Kashmir issue is that the entire princely state of Jammu and Kashmir is a disputed territory. And it will remain so even after the [September's 1996] election. Although, the United States did not support the recent state assembly elections in Kashmir, neither does it reject them. Secondly, it believes that the status of Kashmir can only be resolved through discussions between India and Pakistan, taking into account the views of the Kashmiri people. The United States is willing to help India and Pakistan resolve tensions over Kashmir, but only if both countries requested US assistance.

The report concludes that the US remains particularly concerned about the hostage situation in Kashmir in which four Western tourists, including American Donald Hutchings, were kidnapped in July 1995 by a previously unknown militant group, Al-Faran. The governments of India and Pakistan, as well as most Kashmiri militant groups, repeatedly have condemned the kidnappings, and the Clinton Administration has called for the immediate release of the hostages.

In many respects, the economic and social development of South Asia, which has been supported by considerable US and multilateral assistance, has been held hostage by the half-century-long feud between India and Pakistan. Both countries have spent scarce resources on defence rather than fostering the economic cooperation that has spawned economic and social development in other parts of Asia.