Bangladesh has joined a Riyadh-based ‘Islamic military alliance centre’ which has been formed with a mission to fight terrorism and extremism ‘in general’.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir phoned Bangladesh Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali and Bangladesh ‘primarily’ agreed to join the alliance, State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam told UNB on Tuesday.
“It’s a very new kind of initiative. We conveyed them (Saudi authorities) that we would be happy to be founding member of the alliance center,” he said. In line with the ‘zero tolerance’ policy of the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina against terrorism and violent extremism, Bangladesh decided to join the Centre along with other Muslim countries, said the state minister.
Asked about the objective of the alliance, Shahriar said almost all countries have mechanism on countering terrorism ‘bilaterally’ that sometimes lacks coordination. “The alliance is formed to do the job in a better coordinated and effective way.”
The role of the centre will be to coordinate efforts, exchange experiences, and provide support where needed. It will provide assistance, such as, material support, information and data to combat terrorism and extremist ideology. On the role of Bangladesh, the State Minister said Bangladesh will have a role of coordination, exchange of experiences and providing support when it is needed. “It’s a very early stage. It needs wider discussion even it can be discussed in Parliament,” he added.
Asked whether the alliance is formed to fight against IS, the State Minister said it has been formed to countering terrorism generally as terrorists might emerge in various names and banners.
Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz has taken the initiative to establish the Centre in Riyadh to coordinate efforts against terrorism and extremism. Earlier, the international media reported that the coalition consists of 34 countries, including the Gulf States, a number of African countries, Turkey, Egypt, Malaysia and Pakistan.
Countries involved in the coalition aside from Saudi Arabia, include Jordan, the UAE, Pakistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Benin, Turkey, Chad, Togo, Tunisia, Djibouti, Senegal, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Gabon, Guinea, the partially-recognised state of Palestine, the Islamic Federal Republic of the Comoros, Qatar, Cote d’Ivoire, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, the Maldives, Mali, Malaysia, Egypt, Morocco, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Yemen.
“The countries, mentioned here, have decided on the formation of a military alliance led by Saudi Arabia to fight terrorism, with a joint operations centre based in Riyadh to coordinate and support military operations,” Saudi state news agency SPA quoted an official statement as saying.
The coalition has “a duty to protect the Islamic nation from the evils of all terrorist groups and organisations whatever their sect and name which wreak death and corruption on earth and aim to terrorise the innocent.”
Currently, there are a number of active coalitions fighting terror groups such as Islamic State (IS, Daesh, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in Syria and Iraq.
