Taken note of Trump’s ‘Pakistan testing nukes’ claim: India

India on Friday said it has taken note of US President Donald Trump’s sensational claim that Pakistan has been testing nuclear weapons, asserting that “clandestine and illegal nuclear activities” have long been a hallmark of Islamabad’s record.

“We have taken note of President Trump’s comment about Pakistan’s nuclear testing,” Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at the weekly media briefing. He added that clandestine and illegal nuclear activities are consistent with Pakistan’s history, which is centred around decades of smuggling, export‑control violations, secret partnerships, the AQ Khan network, and further proliferation.

Jaiswal underlined that India has consistently drawn the international community’s attention to Pakistan’s dubious nuclear past. “India has always highlighted these aspects of Pakistan’s record before the global community,” he said, suggesting that Trump’s remarks further vindicate New Delhi’s long‑standing concerns about Islamabad’s proliferation track record.

Regarding Trump’s separate claim that “eight planes were shot down” during the May India‑Pakistan skirmish, the MEA spokesperson said all details of the episode — referred to as Operation Sindoor — had already been placed on record.

“As far as Operation Sindoor is concerned, we have already fully briefed you on all the activities associated with it. If you refer to our earlier statements and press briefings, everything has been set out clearly,” he added, urging reporters to rely on India’s official version.

Trump, during an interview with an American news channel earlier this week, had claimed that Pakistan had been testing nuclear weapons and later, at a business event in Miami, repeated the controversial assertion that eight aircraft were downed in a past India‑Pakistan confrontation.

Responding to a question about a Pakistani minister recently visiting a Lashkar‑e‑Taiba‑linked institution, Jaiswal said the world knows which country is “the factory of terrorism”. “We all know which country is the global epicentre of terrorism. I need not elaborate further for you to get an answer to your question,” he said, making a pointed reference to Pakistan.

When asked about Trump’s remarks regarding his “upcoming visit to India”, Jaiswal declined to comment, saying, “I do not have anything to share on that at this point. I will let you know when I have something to share.”