Pakistan Taliban's capability to strike at will worrisome: Antony

NEW DELHI: The capability of Pakistani Taliban to strike at will at strategic targets is "worrisome", Defence Minister A K Antony said today.

Addressing the Unified Commanders' Conference, he said that military leadership should factor in the growing stock of Pakistani nuclear weapons to evolve an overall strategy towards country's western neighbour.

"The capability of Pakistani Taliban to strike at will at innocent public and strategic targets is worrisome," he said.

In recent times, Taliban militants in Pakistan have launched several attacks on military and police targets killing scores of people including civilians.

"The growing nuclear stock of Pakistan needs to be factored in our overall strategy towards our western neighbour," he said.

According to a recent report by SIPRI think tank, Pakistan has a stockpile of around 90-110 nuclear warheads.

The Defence Minister said financial constraints faced by the Government would not be allowed to affect the national security but the onus lies collectively on all of us to make the optimum use of the financial resources with all the honesty, transparency and fairness.

Dwelling at length on the recent changes in procurement procedures, Antony said the objective is to bring about greater efficiency in the procurement process and to strengthen the defence manufacturing base in the country.

The Defence Minister said the contemporary concept of security encompasses not merely military threats, but also cyber attacks, insurgencies, organised trans-border crimes, pandemics and contingencies of natural disasters.

"Such an environment of security necessitates need for constant monitoring and building up capacities to enable multi-level, multi-agency responses," he said.