Singapore: Defence Minister George Fernandes on June 1 warned of the threat of weapons of mass destruction falling into the hands of deviant states or terrorists.

"It is bad enough if such proliferation takes place at the level of state of one assisting another belligerent or deviant state in obtaining such weapons from scientific laboratories or the nuclear grey market", he said.

He said the bigger challenge would be if such capabilities fell into the hands of deviant states or if political parties that share fundamentalist ideo1ogy find a pace in nuclear decision-making.

Calling for collective action against terrorism to be broad-based, he said such actions should not be unilateral or taken by "coalitions of the willing", in an apparent reference to recent U.S actions in Iraq.

He said though the action could be successful in the short rule, yet "the problem of the longer haul after the military success remains".

"Absolute power has its own limits. If we have common objectives confronting the threat of terrorism and proliferation, it is important that our efforts are based on a common pool of experience and that they endure", he said.

Fernandes told the delegates at the Second Annual Asia Security Forum that the nature of new challenges, made it imperative that response goes beyond the confines of domestic and regional police and paramilitary capability and coordination.

PTI