WASHINGTON, Aug 23: India has geo-economic interests beyond its borders and the Indian military has to prepare itself to protect those interests, says Air Chief Marshall S. P. Tayagi.

In a veiled reference to Pakistan, the Indian Air Force chief told a Washington think-tank on Tuesday that there were ‘political systems’ in South Asia that were either “unwilling or unable to control non-state actors called terrorists or militants”.

The Indian military leadership, he said, has to be ready to deal with the ‘beyond … border’ threats because they threatened India’s economic interests by creating instability in the region.

Mr Tayagi, however, assured a Pakistani correspondent that his concept about guarding the country’s geo-economic interests beyond its geographically boundaries only meant building better relations with a stronger diplomatic role for the military establishment.

In his presentation on “India’s strategic environment and the role of military power” at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Mr Tayagi named Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Myanmar and China among the countries in the region that, unlike India, do not have democracy. He said a stable political environment in the neighbourhood would strengthen India’s security.