50 Years of the Biological Weapons Convention: Tracking the Journey (Editor: Ajey Lele, Pentagon Press/MP IDSA, 2025) is a tribute to the Biological Weapons Convention (hereinafter referred to as the BWC), in its Golden Jubilee year (2025), which has been “a foundational pillar of global disarmament and non-proliferation.” The book has five sections, comprising 14 chapters contributed by renowned Indian and international researchers, scholars, academici
The Gujarat Police’s Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on 8 November 2025 arrested Ahmed Mohiyuddin Saiyed, a doctor from Hyderabad (Telangana), along with firearms and nearly 4 kg of castor-bean mash, which is used to extract ricin, a bio-toxin, at Adalaj toll plaza on Ahmedabad–Mehsana Road in Gandhinagar. His call records led to the arrest of two Uttar Pradesh residents, Azad Suleman Sheikh and Mohammad Saleem Khan, in Banaskantha, Gujarat.
The BioWeapons Monitor is an initiative of the BioWeapons Prevention Project (BWPP) to help monitor compliance with the international norm established primarily in the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC). In particular, it aims to increase transparency of activities relevant to the BWC, which the current treaty regime does not do sufficiently.
Even terrorists play pranks on WMD use these days! Late May 2008, a purported terrorist video caught media attention and some serious coverage. As per the reports, the Al Qaeda video message urged Islamic jihadists to use “biological, chemical and nuclear weapons to attack the West.” Experts suspecting the authenticity of the video message dismissed the threat as a prank and not ‘Qaedaesque’ enough to get scared.
The threat of chemical and biological terrorism emanating from non-state actors, including the Islamic Jihadi organisations, which control large swathes of territories and resources, remains a major concern for nation-states today. Over the years, the capability and intentions of Islamic jihadist groups have changed. They evidently prefer for more destructive and spectacular methods.