Pakistan, July 3 -- Last month, a diverse group of policymakers, entrepreneurs and young change-makers from across South Asia stepped out of a brightly lit conference room in the Atlantic Council, particularly proud of themselves. For they had just spent a good three hours not yawning through a typical policy roundtable but a riveting brainstorming session where they had first-hand recognised the elephant in the room: South Asia's next step forward cannot be made by people whose political imagination is still trapped between 1947 and 1971.

As very befittingly remarked by Atlantic Council's Senior Advisor, Imran Shauket, he, along with other facilitators ("with grey hair, or no hair at all"), could do only so much for the next generation....