Pakistan would consider nuclear test if India tests

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan would review a unilateral ban on testing nuclear weapons if India were to conduct a nuclear test, Pakistan said on Monday.

Old rivals India and Pakistan conducted tit-for-tat nuclear tests in 1998 but neither side has tested since then.

The question of an Indian nuclear test has arisen in connection with a landmark civilian nuclear cooperation deal with the United States, and what the United States would do if India were to conduct a test.

While India has not proposed a resumption of nuclear tests, Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said last week India had the "sovereign right to test and would do so if it is necessary in the national interest".

Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam did not refer to Mukherjee's comment but said Pakistan viewed seriously "assertions by the Indian leadership about the possibility of resuming nuclear tests".

"This should be a source of concern not just to Pakistan but to the international community as well," she said.

Both countries, which have fought three wars since their independence in 1947, have adopted unilateral moratoriums on testing, but Pakistan would review that in the event of an Indian test, Aslam said.

"Resumption of nuclear test by India would create a serious situation obliging Pakistan to review its position and to take action, appropriate and consistent with our supreme national interest," she said.

India needs to secure the approval of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the backing of the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, which governs nuclear commerce, after which the U.S. Congress needs to vote on the deal for it to go through.