US President Donald Trump said he could travel to India next year, emphasising that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “wants” him to visit while calling him a “great man” and a “friend”. “He’s (PM Modi) a friend of mine, and we speak. He wants me to go there. We’ll figure that out. I’ll go. I will have a great trip there with Prime Minister Modi, he’s a great man. And I’ll be going,” Trump said at the Oval Office on Thursday in response to a question.
When asked if he is planning to go to India next year, Trump said, “It could be, yeah.”
India will host leaders from Australia, Japan, and the United States for the Quad summit in New Delhi after the 2024 summit was held in Wilmington, Delaware. However, the dates for the summit in India are yet to be announced. When asked about Trump’s visit to India, the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal in New Delhi declined to comment on the issue.
“I do not have anything on this to share. I will let you know when I have,” Jaiswal said. Meanwhile, President Trump once again claimed that India has stopped buying oil from Russia. “It’s great, going good. He (PM Modi) stopped... Largely, he stopped buying oil from Russia,” Trump said.
Illegal nuclear activities in line with PAK history: India
New Delhi: India on Friday noted US President Donald Trump’s comments about Pakistan testing nuclear weapons and said Islamabad’s “clandestine” nuclear activities were centred on decades of smuggling, export control violations, and secret partnerships. Last week, Trump named Pakistan among the countries testing nuclear weapons. The US president said this to justify his administration’s plans to resume testing of the US’s own nuclear assets after a gap of over three decades.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), responding to Trump’s remarks, said India has always drawn the international community’s attention to Pakistan’s nuclear proliferation as well as the activities of AQ Khan, known as the father of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb, who died in 2021.
“Clandestine and illegal nuclear activities are in keeping with Pakistan’s history, which is centered around decades of smuggling, export control violations, secret partnerships, AQ Khan network, and further proliferation,” MEA spokesperson Randhir 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,” he said. Khan was known for setting up an international network for the supply of nuclear and missile technologies.
