Chief minister Shibu Soren and his Sikkim counterpart Pawan Chamling at the meet. (PTI)

Ranchi, Jan. 6: Shibu Soren’s address at the chief minister’s conference on internal security in Delhi today indicated that Jharkhand was a beacon of hope with regard to terrorism and that its tentacles were yet to spread in his home state.

Coming a day after the killing of a leader of a popular citizen’s vigilante group against Naxalites in Ghatshila and against the backdrop of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s address focusing on the multi-dimensional challenges of coping with terror — be it Left-wing terrorism or insurgency in the Northeast — Soren’s speech was surprisingly tame in its lack of insight.

The chief minister argued that though Jharkhand too was vulnerable to terrorist attacks since terrorists had spread their tentacles all over the world, no terrorist outfit was based in the state. Also, no terrorist attack had taken place in Jharkhand.

Also, he did not dwell on Naxalism, though his press adviser, Shafiq Ansari, maintained the issue would be discussed at tomorrow’s meeting.

Soren’s observation failed to indicate the extent of the state’s vulnerability to terror given that it shares a border with Bangladesh — a haven for various banned anti-India outfits — with the river Ganga bridging the gap.

Jharkhand has for long been the cradle for various ultra-left organisations. If the Maoists from Nepal were trained here, a couple of weeks ago, the commander-in-chief of the banned All Adivasi National Liberation Army, Nirmal Tirkey, was nabbed in Gumla district along with his associates. He had even set up a unit there and was about to begin “full fledged” operations, police sources later confirmed.

In 2002, two Lashkar-e-Toiba militants involved in the attack on the American consulate in Calcutta were killed in an encounter with the police in Hazaribagh.

A senior official with the Intelligence Bureau opined that tribal heartlands like in Jharkhand usually provide fertile training ground for terrorists. “If necessary precautions aren’t taken now, this state too will go up on flames,” he feared.

That’s a concern shared by most. Leader of the Opposition Arjun Munda seized the opportunity to take on the chief minister. “Either Soren wasn’t aware of ground realities or he was misleading the country for political gain.”

In his address, Soren said his government was prepared to fight terrorism and reiterated the setting up of two battalions of an auxiliary force and the Jharkhand Jaguar akin to Greyhounds in Andhra Pradesh.