New Delhi, Nov 7 (IANS) India on Friday said that it has taken note of US President Donald Trump’s remarks about Pakistan conducting nuclear testing.

At a media briefing here, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated that “clandestine and illegal” nuclear activities are in keeping with Pakistan’s history.

Asked about US President Trump’s recent remarks about Pakistan’s nuclear testing, he 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.”

Earlier this week, Trump revealed that Pakistan is among the countries that are testing nuclear weapons. He stated that the US, like other nations, will test nuclear weapons and stressed that the move was necessary as several nations, including Russia, China, North Korea, and Pakistan, are carrying out nuclear tests.

“Russia’s testing, and China’s testing, but they don’t talk about it. You know, we’re an open society. We’re different. We talk about it. We have to talk about it, because otherwise you people are gonna report — they don’t have reporters that are gonna be writing about it. We do. No, we’re gonna test, because they test and others test. And certainly North Korea’s been testing. Pakistan’s been testing,” President Trump said during an interview with CBS News, NDTV reported.

Trump made the remarks when asked whether the US is going to start detonating nuclear weapons for testing after more than 30 years. He said that the US does not “necessarily know” where these nations are testing nuclear weapons; however, he stated that 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.

–IANS

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