NEW DELHI: The ministry of external affairs on Friday said that India had taken note of US President Donald Trump’s remarks that Pakistan was testing nuclear weapons, terming it “clandestine and illegal”. The reaction came after Trump justified the States’ move to resume nuke testing following Russia, China, North Korea and Pakistan’s suit.“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. India has always drawn the attention of the international community to these aspects of Pakistan’s record,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
“In this backdrop, we have taken note of President Trump’s comment about Pakistan’s nuclear testing. Pakistan’s secret and illegal nuclear activities are related to its ancient history, which has lasted for decades.,” he added.Earlier this week, Trump declared his administration’s decision to resume America’s own nuclear testing after more than three decades.Justifying this, he said, “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 because otherwise you people are going to report. They don’t have reporters that are going to be writing about it.”Also Read | ’44 Indians in Russian army’: MEA in touch with Kremlin after identification; warns citizens against joining“We’re going to test because they test and others test. And certainly North Korea’s been testing. Pakistan’s been testing,” he added.Pakistan has, however, denied these claims saying that it would “not be the first to resume nuclear tests”.“Pakistan was not the first to carry out nuclear tests and will not be the first to resume nuclear tests,” CBS quoted a senior Pakistani security official saying.
