India-hosted SCO anti-terror drill ends on Oct 13; Pakistan may attend

The National Security Guard (NSG) is hosting the second edition of the Joint Anti-Terror Exercise (JATE), Manesar Anti-Terror 2022, under the aegis of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), from October 8 to 13.

Pakistan was invited to the closing ceremony of JATE on October 13 and a delegation is likely to attend. India too participated in the RATS hosted by Pakistan in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa in September last year.

Reports quoting officials said that the first stage of the exercise was held from July 27 to August 1 by the National Counter Terrorist Forces of SCO member countries in their respective regions.

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The second phase of the drill will be held at the NSG’s Manesar Garrison in Delhi.

“The exercise is aimed at exchanging expertise, best practices and build synergy between the Counter Terrorism Forces of the SCO RATS Member Countries to enhance capabilities for conducting Anti-Terrorist operations and countering other security threats collectively.”

The exercise will be attended by eight representatives from National Counter Terrorism Forces of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Uzbekistan, Russian Federation and India’s NSG, a statement issued by NSG said.

NSG said the exercise will be witnessed by four observers from the Executive Committee (EC) of RATS and one observer from the State Committee for National Security of Tajikistan. The closing ceremony will be attended by high-level delegations from EC RATS including permanent representatives and delegates from SCO member countries, representatives of the diplomatic missions of SCO member countries in India, and representatives of international organisations that have tied up with RATS SCO as well as national delegates from India, the statement said.

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RATS headquartered in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, aims to facilitate cooperation among SCO countries against terrorism, extremism and separatism. JATE is a yearly counter-terrorist exercise held within the framework of SCO RATS.

India became the chairman of SCO RATS in October 2021.