India facing threats from almost all its neighbours: Dubey

"It is now well documented that Pakistan has been encouraging and assisting terrorists to cross over the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir and the international border to indulge in acts of terrorism in India," Dubey writes in his soon-to-be-released book "India`s Foreign Policy: Coping with the Changing World".

"For this purpose, it maintains a whole infrastructure of terrorist organisations and their training camps in its territory. This is a part of its strategy to keep militancy alive in the state and generally to destabilise India."

Dubey, who retired from Indian Foreign Service in 1991, says both Pakistan and China, "from which India faces a direct threat to its security, have been busy augmenting and improving" their nuclear arsenals.

"Besides, there was very recently a sharp deterioration in the international security environment because of some of the unilateral measures adopted by the US under the Republican administration...In such a situation, India cannot afford to take too long in putting in place its minimum nuclear deterrent and for that purpose, acquiring a second strike capability. It must adopt a phased programme within a time bound framework, for achieving this target."

He also says that Bangladesh has contributed to the destabilisation of the northeast by allowing the ULFA and other militant groups to operate from its territory with a view to carrying out terrorist activities in India.