Pak has long history of ‘clandestine and illegal nuclear activities’, says India

NEW new delhi: bharat on fri responded to US chairman Donald ruff’s comments about Pakistan secretly testing nuclear devices by saying that Islamabad has a long history of “clandestine and illegal nuclear activities” such as export control violations and proliferation.While talking about his plans for the US to resume nuclear tests after more than 30 years, Trump said during an interview over the weekend that China, Russia, Pakistan and South Korea were testing atomic weapons.“Clandestine and illegal nuclear activities are in keeping with Pakistan’s history, that is centred around decades of smuggling, export control violations, secret partnerships, the AQ Khan network and further proliferation,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said when he was asked about Trump’s comments at a weekly media briefing.“India has always drawn the attention of the international community to these aspects of Pakistan’s record,” Jaiswal said. “In this backdrop, we have taken note of President Trump’s comment about Pakistan’s nuclear testing.”In the interview with CBS News aired over the weekend, Trump pointed to his plans to resume nuclear blasts.“Russia’s testing, and China’s testing, but they don’t talk about it,” said. “We’re gonna test, because they test and others test. And certainly North Korea’s been testing. Pakistan’s been testing.”In the aftermath of Trump’s remarks, officials from China, Pakistan and Russia have said their countries are not conducting nuclear tests. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed his government to submit proposals on the possible resumption of nuclear testing in response to Trump’s move.India had repeatedly drawn the international community’s attention to Pakistan’s nuclear proliferation in the 1990s, especially the activities of metallurgist AQ Khan, who died in 2021 and was accused of running a proliferation network that clandestinely supplied and acquired nuclear and missile technology and know-how.Khan, who was placed under house arrest by successive Pakistani governments, was believed to have supplied nuclear technology to North Korea, Iran and Libya.Jaiswal responded to a separate question on reports of a Pakistani minister visiting an institution run by the terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba by saying: “We all know which country is the factory of terrorism, which country is the global epicentre of terrorism. I need not elaborate more for you to get an answer to your question.”