Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa was recently in the news in India and surprisingly for a different reason. In his speech at the Islamabad Security Dialogue, General Bajwa expressed willingness for improving ties with India. According to General Bajwa, “stable Indo-Pak relations is a key to unlock the untapped potential of South and Central Asia by ensuring connectivity between East and West Asia”. Interestingly, General Bajwa was referring to the geo-economics and the potential of South Asian regionalism linking it with India-Pakistan peace. This proposition is not new to the academic circles working on South Asian regionalism. South Asia is one of the least integrated regions of the world despite socio-cultural closeness. India-Pakistan tensions are regarded as one of the main reasons for the lack of regionalism in South Asia. Now when General Bajwa is talking about peace with India, what does it mean? Normally, we believe that such speeches are diplomat...