Bhubaneswar, May 10::On the eve of tenth anniversary of Pokhran-II, former President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam said that the decision to conduct nuclear tests was a ‘very important’ one which strengthened the nation.

"It was a very important decision on the part of the Indian Government to go for test explosion of nuclear devices on May 11, 1998," Kalam, who was on a two-day visit to Orissa, said.

As chief of the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) and scientific advisor to the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Kalam had played a crucial role in successful conducting of the test explosions of five nuclear devices on May 11 and May 13, 1998.

Though a number of countries imposed sanctions against India in the aftermath of the Pokhran-II tests, Kalam said, they certainly added to the capability of the nation.

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