Prepared to thwart terror strikes ahead of Barack Obama's India visit: Manohar Parrikar

NEW DELHI: India is "well-prepared" to thwart any possible terror strike on "soft targets" in Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere with the intention to create trouble ahead of US President Barack Obama's January 24-26 visit, said defence minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday.

"They (terrorist) may try to do something to create news. But we are well-prepared," said Parrikar, in the backdrop of a top Army general stating that around 200 heavily-armed militants trained in Pakistan were waiting in 36 "launch pads" along the Line of Control to infiltrate into India.

Talking on the side-lines of the Army Day reception here, Parrikar also ruled out any resumption of the bilateral composite dialogue process with Pakistan till it actually takes concrete action against anti-India terror outfits operating from its soil.

"Let things cool down at the borders also. If things are quiet now, it's not because of Pakistan Army. It's because we reacted in a certain way when they fired first," he said, asked about media reports that Pakistan plans to ban 10 terror outfits, including 26/11 mastermind Hafeez Saeed-led Jammat-ud-Dawa.

This comes just a couple of days after Army chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag said there was little evidence on ground till now to suggest the Pakistan Army has undergone a genuine "change of heart" after the barbaric Peshawar school massacre last month. "The terrorist infrastructure across the border is intact. Pakistan Army's support to the proxy war in J&K continues unabated despite suffering casualties its own country," he had said.

Earlier on Thursday, 16 Corps commander Lt-Gen K H Singh at Nagrota in J&K said there were "general intelligence inputs" about the possibility of terror attacks on soft targets such as religious places, schools and military and civilian convoys in the strife-torn state.