Pak has history of clandestine nuclear activities: India

In an attempt to defend his administration’s plans to resume testing of nuclear weapons for the first time in three decades, Trump named Pakistan, China, Russia and North Korea as countries testing nuclear weapons.

Pakistan illegal nuclear activities: MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal addresses the media on Friday. (Photo: Screenshot/PTI Video on X)

Pakistan illegal nuclear activities: Days after US President Donald Trump named Pakistan as one of the countries testing nuclear weapons, India Friday said Islamabad’s “clandestine” nuclear activities are centred on decades of smuggling, export control violations and secret partnerships.

On November 3, in an attempt to defend his administration’s plans to resume testing of nuclear weapons for the first time in three decades, Trump named Pakistan, China, Russia and North Korea as countries testing nuclear weapons. Trump had announced ahead of his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week in South Korea that the US would start testing nuclear weapons on an “equal basis” with rival powers.

VIDEO | At a media briefing, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal says,”…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… pic.twitter.com/sE2KCndTDt

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) November 7, 2025

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Responding to questions on Trump’s comments, the Ministry of External Affairs’ official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said Friday: “Clandestine and illegal nuclear activities are in keeping with Pakistan’s history, that is centered around decades of smuggling, export control violations, secret partnerships, (the) A Q Khan network and further proliferation.”

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A Q Khan, the scientist who spearheaded Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme, died in 2021. He was known for setting up an international network for supply of nuclear and missile technologies.

Jaiswal said: “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 last known nuclear test was in May 1998, after the Indian nuclear tests in Pokhran.

In an interview with CBS News’s Norah O’Donnell on Sunday, the US president had said: “Russia is testing and China is testing, but they don’t talk about it. We are an open society. We talk about it…. We are gonna test, because they test and others test. And certainly North Korea’s been testing. Pakistan’s been testing.”

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“They don’t go and tell you about it. You don’t necessarily know where they are testing. They test way underground, where people don’t know exactly what’s happening with the test,” Trump said.

According to experts, the US military regularly tests missiles capable of delivering a nuclear warhead. But it has not detonated the weapons since 1992.

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