Pakistan on Friday said it had not conducted any nuclear tests after May 1998, rejecting Indian allegations of clandestine nuclear activities as “baseless and malicious”.

Foreign Office (FO) Spokesman Tahir Andrabi, responding to a question from Dawn, said, “For the record, Pakistan’s last nuclear tests were conducted in May 1998. Our position on nuclear testing is well established and consistent.”

Pakistan has maintained a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear testing since its last series of tests conducted in response to India’s nuclear tests.

However, Pakistan has not signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, retaining the flexibility to resume testing if its security environment, particularly vis-à-vis India, deteriorates.

“Pakistan has been supporting United Nations General Assembly resolutions calling for a comprehensive ban on nuclear testing. In contrast, India’s abstentions on these resolutions reflect its ambiguous and questionable intentions on future nuclear testing,” Andrabi said.

The statement came after India cited an earlier remark by former US President Donald Trump, who, in a 2019 interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes, had claimed that “Pakistan’s been testing” nuclear weapons, a statement Islamabad had earlier chosen not to respond to to avoid offending Washington.

However, the FO broke its silence after India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) referenced Trump’s comment at a media briefing on Friday.

India’s MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “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 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.”

Andrabi dismissed the Indian statement, saying, “India is clearly distorting facts and misrepresenting the remarks of US President Donald Trump. The US side has already clarified its position to the media regarding the statements by the president.”

He emphasised that “Pakistan’s nuclear program operates under a robust command and control structure, comprehensive export controls, and an impeccable record of compliance with the global non-proliferation regime.”

“Allegations of ‘clandestine or illegal nuclear activities’ are baseless, malicious, and part of India’s disinformation campaign aimed at diverting attention from its own irresponsible conduct,” Andrabi said.

The spokesman said India’s record on nuclear safety and security remained “deeply concerning”.

“Over the past several decades, numerous incidents involving the theft and illicit trafficking of sensitive nuclear material and other radioactive substances have exposed serious deficiencies in India’s ability to safeguard its facilities,” the spokesperson added.

“As recently as last year, radioactive equipment from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, along with the highly radioactive substance Californium (valued at over $100 million) was found on sale in India.”

He said such recurring incidents “point to the existence of a thriving nuclear black market for sensitive and dual-use materials in India”.

“The international community must take serious note of these alarming gaps, which pose a grave threat to both regional and global security,” Andrabi added.