‘Nuke deterrents in place, no reducing Siachen troops’

Mukherjee has ruled out any scaling down of forces from the Siachen glacier, or from Jammu and Kashmir.

‘‘Our presence in Siachen glacier is limited. The situation in Jammu and Kashmir is not yet conducive for thinning down of forces,’’ he said.

About relations with Pakistan, he said that a series of confidence-building measures had been proposed with Pakistan, including opening up of the road from Srinagar to Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

‘‘The proposal of Mehbooba Mufti to have weekly markets can also be considered. But the Pakistanis should agree (to it),’’ Mukherjee said.

On infiltration from across the LoC, he said figures available indicated that it had gone up in June-July which is the time when it goes up.

‘‘There has been substantial increase in attempts (by militants) to cross the LoC, but we have frustrated most of these attempts. The fencing along the LoC is proving quite effective,’’ he said.

While pointing out that the situation on the Sino-India border had considerably eased due to confidence-building measures taken up mutually, Mukherjee said a similar softer border approach on the western side was still distant.