Additional troops on border quot;unnecessaryquot;

He said the proxy war in Kashmir had now turned into a mercenary war. As the Kashmiris have rejected the blandishments of the militants, mercenaries from Pakistan, Afghanistan and other countries were indulgingin terrorism. The onslaught of the Taliban against its rivals in Afghanistan was reason for worry as they could spill-over into Kashmir through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, which borders Afghanistan. He said cleaning up the Siachen glacier of the wastes disposed of by the Army required massive efforts.

Bio-digesters, developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation, were undergoing trials for treating wastes into environmentally safe materials. The priority is to carry men in the helicopters from the outpost where the temperature remains 30 degrees sub-zero and under near-constant shelling. However, priority will be accorded to keep the glacier unpolluted.