ON 26 August this year, I had penned an article “Reimagining Pakistan & SA: Towards Progress, Prosperity and Peace”.

In this article, a vision was presented to bring Pakistan into the center of the South Asian region as the country which can work towards building economic and social ties in the region. The vision was formulated on the coattails of the tremendous changes and realignments which had taken place in the region over the past twelve months, namely, the 100 hour conflict between Pakistan and India and the Gen-Z led revolutions in Bangladesh and Nepal. Concurrent to these changes taking place in the region, Pakistan and the US have also been experiencing, for the first time in the recent history, warming of bilateral relationships. The US seems to be increasingly looking at Pakistan in a different light – not as a tactical and transactional partner, but as a strategic partner with whom it could have long-term economic partnership. The US is also perhaps counting on Pakistan’s increased role as a regional security provider, particularly in the Middle East, which arguably led to the recently signed defense agreement between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

The said article which argued for a more integrated South Asia ended with the argument that “in South Asia, we have more in common and even more to gain if only we would think of the larger good of the 25% of the population of the world that resides here. Pakistan has the momentum and should take the lead in Reimagining Pakistan and South Asia!” Admittedly being less of an intellect and more of an action oriented person, I ended up dwelling on what can be done towards the realization of this objective. The musings led to discussions with colleagues based in the US who are South Asia hats. They are all retired ambassador rank officers of the various branches of the US government (USAID, State, National Security Council, etc) or thought leaders based in Washington based think tanks. These colleagues have either served in Pakistan and other countries of South Asia or are heading South Asia desks in their respective think tanks and are truly Pakistan and South Asia experts. In addition to the American colleagues, I also reached out to some notable Pakistanis for advice and consultation.

After months of deliberation and planning, in early October we congregated over many sessions in Washington, DC to discuss the idea of coming together to work towards a better South Asia, with Pakistan in the lead. Pakistan’s Ambassador in Washington, HE Rizwan Saeed, and Ministers Bilal Shah and Mariam Saeed added their support behind the idea and hosted the group at the embassy for exchange of ideas and discussion. The various discussions culminated in a round table at DGA-ASG where an initiative was launched, namely, “Pakistan and South Asia: Towards Progress, Partnership and Peace (PSA-PPP)” with the initiative having the following two objectives.

First, the initiative would work towards phased integration of Pakistan and other South Asian nations. It was recognized that despite a strong geographical and cultural cohesion, the South Asian region remains one of the most fragmented in the world. Modeling ASEAN, the nations of the region should set aside historical tensions, commercial competition and self-interest to advance the creation of a working economic union for the betterment of the 25% of the world’s population that lives in South Asia. Recent upheaval in the global economic order compels the nations of the region to diversify their global partnerships, which should start in their neighborhood.

Second, in recognition of the worldwide decline in development funding, the initiative will identify the means through which South Asian countries could learn from and leverage their own and each other’s experiences. Despite substantial progress, Pakistan by most measures is the furthest behind in its social sector indicators (literacy, polio, infant mortality, women’s economic empowerment, malnutrition, population growth, etc.). Pakistan and regional countries need to engage and learn from each other and scale solutions while drawing on their own long experience assimilating and applying traditional development assistance.

Verily, there is much on the plate to be done. One of the first questions that I was asked was “Since most in the team are retired USG officers, how can they help or have influence?” Yes, they are retired officers, and that is the key to the strength of this initiative. Serving officers of the US government are not “allowed” to think or act freely. They are essentially executors of policies planned by the powers-that-be. These retired officers have free reign to think, write, blog, tweet or reach out to their extensive network of friends within US and in South Asia to advocate for and facilitate dialogue and build bridges in the region. Their knowledge of the players, passion for the region and objectivity make them ideal intra-regional brokers.

Having formed the PSA-PPP group, it is worth noting that they will be visiting Pakistan early next month for a series of meetings hosted by SDPI and ISSI. There will also be interacting with the media. It is hoped that we can impress on all that South Asia sits at a historic inflection point and by working together, we can place Pakistan at the centre of a new South Asian renaissance.

—The writer is a former Senior Advisor to the Government and a sector development specialist. He is a member of the APP Think Tank and Pakistan’s Buddhist Heritage Promotion Ambassador for GTPL, a company under SIFC.