The Ministry of External Affairs on Friday said that India has taken note of US President Donald Trump's comments on Pakistan's nuclear testing.
At a media briefing, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, 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.
"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."
Pakistan's "secret and illegal nuclear activities" are related to its ancient history, which has lasted for decades, said Jaiswal.
Trump, earlier this week, named Pakistan among the countries which are actively testing nuclear weapons, alongside Russia, China and North Korea-after announcing that he had directed the military to resume nuclear weapons testing "on an equal basis" with rival powers.
"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 said in an interview to 60 Minutes on CBS News on Sunday. "We're going to test because they test and others test. And certainly North Korea's been testing. Pakistan's been testing."
Trump said that the US does not "necessarily know" where these "powerful" nations are testing nuclear weapons but claimed the testing is being done. "They... they test way under... underground where people don't know exactly what's happening with the test. You feel a little bit of a vibration. They test and we don't test. We have to test," he said. Trump was responding to a query about his decision regarding "detonating nuclear weapons" after more than 30 years following Russia's recent trials of advanced nuclear-capable systems. The US last conducted a full-scale nuclear test in 1992 but has since observed a voluntary moratorium under the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which it has signed but not ratified.
"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 said during the interview.
He also said that the US possesses "more nuclear weapons than any other country", adding that he had discussed denuclearisation with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. "We have enough nuclear weapons to blow up the world 150 times," Trump said. "Russia has a lot of nuclear weapons, and China will have a lot. They have some. They have quite a bit."
Source Name : Economic Times