NEW DELHI: India on Friday noted US President Donald Trump’s comments about Pakistan testing nuclear weapons and said Islamabad’s “clandestine” nuclear activities were centred around decades of smuggling, export control violations and secret partnerships.
Last week, Trump named Pakistan among the countries testing nuclear weapons. The US president said this to justify his administration’s plans to resume testing of the US’s own nuclear assets after a gap of over three decades.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), responding to Trump’s remarks, said India has always drawn the international community’s attention to Pakistan’s nuclear proliferation as well as activities of AQ Khan, known as the father of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb who died in 2021.
“Clandestine and illegal nuclear activities are in keeping with Pakistan’s history, that is centered around decades of smuggling, export control violations, secret partnerships, AQ Khan network and further proliferation,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
“India has always drawn the attention of the international community to these aspects of Pakistan’s record. In this backdrop, we have taken note of President Trump’s comment about Pakistan’s nuclear testing,” he said.
Khan was known for setting up an international network for supply of nuclear and missile technologies.
It is also said that he was linked to an international proliferation black market and helped supply nuclear technology to countries like North Korea and Iran.
In his comments, Trump strongly justified his decision to restart the testing of nuclear weapons saying it was necessary to ensure reliability of the weapons.
The US president’s comments came ahead of his meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping.
