India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stated on Friday that “clandestine and illegal nuclear activities” are consistent with Pakistan’s history, in response to recent comments by former US President Donald Trump alleging that Islamabad was secretly testing nuclear weapons.
MEA Responds to Trump’s Claim
MEA Official Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal addressed the issue, highlighting Pakistan’s track record. “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,” Jaiswal said. He added, “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.”
Trump’s Accusation and Speculation
The controversy began after Donald Trump, in a ’60 Minutes’ interview with CBS on November 2, claimed several countries were conducting secret nuclear tests. “Russia’s testing, and China’s testing… Pakistan’s been testing,” Trump stated, without offering any evidence.
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His remarks fueled online speculation that Pakistan might have conducted a secret nuclear test between April and May of this year. This theory was linked to a series of earthquakes that occurred in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region from April 30 to May 12. The seismic events, with magnitudes between 4.0 and 4.7, were noted to be similar in intensity to the readings from Pakistan’s Chagai-I and Chagai-II nuclear tests in 1998.
Pakistan has not officially conducted a nuclear test since May 1998, when it responded to India’s Pokhran-II tests.
