Pakistan plays down Al Qaeda regrouping near border

SINGAPORE, June 2 (Reuters) Pakistan played down today US claims that al Qaeda's leadership has regrouped in the tribal areas near its border with Afghanistan, saying these were ''exaggerated''.

Many al Qaeda members took refuge in North and South Waziristan, bordering Afghanistan, after US-led forces toppled the Taliban in 2001. Some US officials say these tribal areas remain safe havens for militants.

''No, we do not agree,'' General Ehsan ul Haq, Pakistan's chairman of the joint chiefs of staff committee, said when asked whether al Qaeda's leadership was regrouping in Pakistan near its border with Afghanistan.

''This is an exaggerated assessment of the presence of some foreign militants in the Waziristan area,'' he told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of an Asian security conference in Singapore, adding that these foreign militants included Uzbeks, Chechens and Afghans.

''To say that this is the regrouping of al Qaeda and that its headquarters are coming, that is certainly over-exaggerated,'' he said, adding ''the US, obviously they have their own assessment.'' The general said Pakistan has taken steps to seal its borders with Afghanistan, using troops and fences, and added that it may consider using other defences such as mines along the border.

''The strategy has been that all tribesmen, there should be a dialogue with them and they should be encouraged not to permit any foreign elements present in their areas,'' he said, following a closed-door discussion on counter-terrorism measures at the International Institute for Strategic Studies' conference.

''We feel that that strategy has been very successful, because as a consequence of that, the tribesmen who are fed up with the presence of foreigners in those areas have acted on their own against them.'' The general also said that Pakistan - which is collaborating with China in the co-development and co-production of JF-17 Thunder fighter aircraft - has now taken delivery of two of the medium-technology fighter jets, and expects to receive a total of eight this year, with local production due to start in 2008.

''Two of them have come in. We want to have eight of them inducted this year. And then serious production will start in 2008,'' he said.

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