Riyadh hosts first meet tomorrow

The defence ministers of the 41-nation Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition (IMCTC) will meet in Riyadh tomorrow to discuss various issues, including ways to establish the alliance as a major bloc to address security challenges and terrorism issues.

This will be the first meeting of the Saudi-led IMCTC defence ministers since the formation of the coalition on December 15 in 2015, with 34 Muslim majority states, including Bangladesh.

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Prime Minister's Security Affairs Adviser Maj Gen (rtd) Tarique Ahmed Siddique left Dhaka for Riyadh yesterday to lead the Bangladesh delegation to the meeting. The delegation comprises top officials from the defence and foreign ministries.

Diplomatic sources said though the alliance was formed nearly two years ago, it's still not clear how and under what terms and conditions it will function.

Foreign ministry officials said though Bangladesh is a founder member of the IMCTC, it will not take part in any military operation under the platform.

According to them, there are two parts in the alliance's concept -- military and political. It fully depends on Bangladesh in which part it would contribute to.

“The meeting of the defence ministers aims to strengthen cooperation and integration between the Islamic military alliance members,” said a report of the Saudi Press Agency (SPA). The theme of the meet is “Allied against Terrorism”.

Diplomatic sources in Dhaka and Riyadh said with around one-third of the Arab world currently embroiled in conflicts caused mainly by terror groups, the meeting is a significant step towards close cooperation between the IMCTC members to fight terrorism in the Islamic world.

The defence ministers will discuss plans and proposals to unify the efforts of the Islamic alliance and promote coordination with other international agencies.

The meeting will also be attended by ambassadors and senior diplomats representing their countries in Saudi Arabia.

The SPA report said the meeting would mark the “real beginning” of the military alliance. A declaration issued by the Arab-US-Islamic Summit in Riyadh in May this year announced that the alliance member-states were ready to deploy 34,000 troops with a view to supporting operations against terrorist groups in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere.

The IMCTC, which has set up a joint operations centre in Riyadh, was established to serve as a platform for security cooperation, including the provision of training, equipment and troops, and the involvement of religious scholars to offer advice on how to deal with extremism.

On January 6, Pakistan's former army chief Gen (retd) Raheel Sharif was named as the Islamic Military Alliance's first commander-in-chief.