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Tuesday, (AFP) Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee warned Monday that the world would face a "disastrous threat" if arch-rival Pakistan's nuclear weapons fell into the hands of extremists.

"If Pakistani nuclear bombs go into the hands of terrorists, it could pose a disastrous threat to the entire world community," Vajpayee told reporters in the northern Indian hill resort of Shimla.

"Atomic bombs reaching the hands of extremists and terrorists could prove highly destructive to the entire world community and should be taken as a challenge by all."

Vajpayee was responding to comments by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who arrives in India Tuesday, that Pakistan's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) "could fall into the hands of bandits and terrorists."

"This matter raised by President Putin must be taken seriously by the entire world," Vajpayee said.

Putin, who will spend three days in India, told The Hindu newspaper Sunday that despite Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's assurances that his country's military potential was under tight control, Russia's "anxiety still persists."

"Our position is such that we believe that practical action should be taken to prevent the dissemination of WMD," Putin said.

"We also have concerns that they (terrorists) could obtain information concerning production techniques of even simple means that could be equal to weapons of mass destruction in their destructive potential."

Briefing reporters in New Delhi on the eve of Putin's visit, Indian Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal said the Russian leader was only reiterating "what we have been saying on several occasions in the past".

"It is a matter of serious concern to the entire international community," he added. "If the international community is concerned about fundamentalism, terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, then Pakistan is the country that should be very closely looked at. It has all these three ingredients."

Vajpayee said Pakistan would figure prominently in his talks with Putin. India had a close relationship with the former Soviet Union during the Cold War, when Pakistan was allied with the United States.

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