Monday, January 30 2006 16:44 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Cautioning that West Asia today (Jan 30,2006) stood at cross roads, India today (Jan 30,2006) said large scale extra regional military presence and rising constituency of radical religious group in the region was a matter of grave concern.

"The ongoing turbulence in West Asia will have major impact on global security," Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said referring to the developments in Iraq and Palestine.

Inaugurating the third Asian Security Conference on the theme of 'Changing Security Dynamics in West Asia', Mukherjee said, "West Asia stands at the cross roads. The ongoing turbulence in West Asia will have a major impact on the global security system."

"Large and growing extra regional military presence in West Asia and the rising constituency of radical religious groups threatening to assert their subversive strength against the States will continue to be of great concern to the international community," he said.

He said continued instability in Iraq could have dangerous consequences for peace and well being and suggested that international community should cooperate with one another in bringing lasting security to the region.

The changing security dynamics in West Asia particularly post 9/11 formed the main theme of a Asian security dialogue initiated by the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA) in which the Minister was the main speaker.

With radical Islamic group Hammas putting up a strong showing in Palestinian Parliament elections, he said India supported Gaza disengagement between the Palesteninians and Israelis and looking forward for further progress in the peace process within a reasonable timeframe.