Exercise TARKASH

Context: Sixth edition of joint exercise TARKASH recently concluded by The National Security Guard (NSG) and US Special Operations Forces (SOF).

About Exercise TARKASH:

• The exercise for the first time included “Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) terror response” in its drill.
• The objective was to rapidly neutralise the terrorists, rescue the hostages safely and deactivate the chemical weapons being carried by the terrorists.

Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Weapons:

• CBRN weapons are also classified as weapons of mass destruction.
• They have been used by States and terror elements in the past.
• The most recent use of CBRN in the form of a sarin gas attack was witnessed in Syria in 2017 when more than 100 people died.

International Treaties related to WMD:

• The use of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons is regulated by a number of international treaties and agreements.

Among them are the:

• Geneva Protocol, 1925, that banned the use of chemical and biological weapons
• Biological Weapons Convention, 1972, and Chemical Weapons Convention, 1992, which put comprehensive bans on the biological and chemical weapons respectively.
  • India has signed and ratified both the 1972 and 1992 treaties.
• There are very few non-signatory countries to these treaties, even though several countries have been accused of non-compliance.
• The use and proliferation of nuclear weapons is regulated by treaties such as Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

Source: Indian Express