N-proliferation has affected India's security: Menon

Singapore, Jun 5 (PTI) In a clear reference to Pakistan,
India Saturday said clandestine proliferation network in the
region had adversely affected its security and pitched for a
new global paradigm to meet the challenge, factoring in the
"real" risks of terrorists gaining access to nuclear material.
India's National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon also
highlighted the dangers India faces by being in the vicinity
of "epicentre" of global terrorism and pressed for increased
global collaborative efforts to defeat the menace particularly
when terror groups are "networked to an unprecedented extent".
Addressing the 9th International Institute for Strategic
Studies (IISS) Asia Security Summit -- The Shangri-La Dialogue
here, he said, "security has acquired new transnational
dimensions because of recent geo-political, technological and
economic developments" and these have to be "dealt with
differently from traditional security concerns".
Elaborating on the new transnational dimensions of
security, Menon identified areas like spread of weapons of
mass destruction, terrorism and climate change which need to
be countered and ensuring cyber security, maritime security
and outer space security.
"The world may now be at the proliferation tipping point
in terms of both nuclear weapons and the militarisation of
space. For India, clandestine proliferation networks in our
neighbourhood have already adversely affected our security,"
the NSA said.
He did not name Pakistan but was clearly alluding to the
country whose father of nuclear programme A Q Khan is known to
have run a clandestine network of nuclear proliferation.
"The risk of nuclear weapons or of other weapons of mass
destruction falling into extremist or terrorist hands is real
and must be factored into our thinking," Menon said.
"It is clear that a new non-proliferation paradigm is
necessary to deal with issues of nuclear security, caused by
the rise of non-state actors and their links to formal or
organised structures in weak states," he said.
He noted that India is the only nuclear-weapon state to
announce an unequivocal no-first-use commitment and to declare
that a world without nuclear weapons will enhance security.
On terrorism, Menon said it had been empowered by new
technologies and in this context referred to Mumbai attacks.
"The Indian experience of cross-border terrorism shows
the complexity of what we are dealing with. The 26/11 attacks
on India were planned and organised in one country, where the
attackers were trained, the logistics and communication
support chain extended over at least seven countries," he
pointed out. (MORE) PTI CORR
MYR


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