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India on Friday hit out at Pakistan over reports of its alleged nuclear testing activities as revealed by US President Donald Trump, saying such "clandestine and illegal" conduct is consistent with Islamabad's long history of nuclear proliferation and smuggling networks.
Commenting on Trump's recent revelation that Pakistan has been secretly testing nuclear weapons, Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs Randhir Jaiswal noted that India has consistently flagged these concerns to the international community, referring to Pakistan's record in these matters. "Clandestine and illegal nuclear activities are in keeping with Pakistan's history, that is centred around decades of smuggling, export control violations, secret partnerships, AQ Khan network and further proliferation," the MEA Spokesperson said. "India has always drawn the attention of the international community to these aspects of Pakistan's record," he added. He further stated that India had "taken note" of Trump's comment about Pakistan's nuclear testing. Jaiswal's comment comes in the backdrop of Trump's recent revelation of Pakistan being among the countries that have been actively testing nuclear weapons. In an interview with CBS News's 60 Minutes on Sunday, Trump said several countries, including Russia, China, North Korea, and Pakistan, are conducting nuclear tests. "Russia's testing and China's testing, but they don't talk about it. We're an open society. We're different. We talk about it. We have to talk about it because otherwise you people are going to report. They don't have reporters that are going to be writing about it," Trump stated. "We're going to test because they test and others test. And certainly North Korea's been testing. Pakistan's been testing," he added. Trump made these remarks when he was asked about his decision of "detonating nuclear weapons" after more than 30 years following Russia's recent trials of advanced nuclear-capable systems, including a Poseidon underwater drone. "You have to see how they work. The reason I'm saying testing is because Russia announced that they were going to be doing a test. If you notice, North Korea is testing constantly. Other countries are testing. We're the only country that doesn't test. And I don't want to be the only country that doesn't test," Trump stated during the interview. (ANI)
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