Singapore, June 01: Defence Minister George Fernandes today 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 states 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 ideology find a place 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 US actions in Iraq. He said though the action could be successful in the short run, 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 here 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. Bureau Report