Proliferation networks pose threat to India: Menon

SINGAPORE - India Saturday said clandestine proliferation networks in the region posed a threat to its security and made a pitch for a new global paradigm to tackle the “real” risks of terrorists gaining access to nuclear material.

“Security has acquired new transnational dimensions because of recent geo-political, technological and economic developments,” National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon told the 9th International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Asia Security Summit, also called The Shangri-La Dialogue.

Menon emphasized that these threats have to be “dealt with differently from traditional security concerns”.

Saying that India was in the vicinity of the “epicentre” of global terrorism, Menon pressed for increased global collaborative efforts to defeat the menace, particularly when terror groups are “networked to an unprecedented extent”.

Menon met US Defence Secretary Robert Gates before the summit here Friday and discussed security issues.

Menon also held talks with Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean and Foreign Minister George Yeo.