Pakistani Assails Gandhi Over His Nuclear Remarks
A high government official Wednesday accused Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of unleashing baseless and self-serving propaganda about Pakistan’s nuclear ambitions.
Gandhi’s statements that Pakistan wants to build a nuclear bomb were a disturbing attempt to drive a wedge between Islamabad and Washington, where the Indian leader has just begun an official visit, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Zain Noorani said.
“Our nuclear program is entirely peaceful,” Noorani told the National Assembly, adding, “The whole world knows that India conducted a nuclear explosion test in 1974.”
Branding Gandhi’s statements “false, self-serving and based on double standards,” Noorani said, “The fairy tales that are being repeated every second day will remain fairy tales no matter how often they are repeated.”
Gandhi has said India is considering building an atomic bomb in reaction to what he called Pakistan’s push to become a nuclear power.
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