Lahore, Oct. 30 : US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is on a three day tour of Pakistan, has reiterated that Al-Qaeda leadership is present in that country, and said that it is hard to believe that a civilian government has no idea about its whereabouts.

“I find it hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where they are and couldn’t get them if they really wanted to,” The Daily Times quoted Clinton, as saying.

“Maybe that’s the case; maybe they’re not gettable. I don’t know... As far as we know, they are in Pakistan,” Clinton told mediapersons here.

She said Pakistan is facing numerous problems and with such a large population to feed the issue has only aggravated.

Clinton stressed that Islamabad must tackle problems related to its ever increasing population.

“You do have 180 million people. Your population is projected to be about 300 million. And, I don’t know what you’re going to do with that kind of challenge, unless you start planning right now,” Clinton said.

Clinton also met Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani at the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi and exchanged views on a host of security-related issues.

Issues pertaining to Pak-US strategic relations, including their cooperation in the ‘war on terror’, and the ongoing military offensive against the Taliban in South Waziristan were also discussed in the meeting, the sources said.

US Special Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke, US Ambassador in Pakistan, Anne W. Peterson and Director General Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha also attended the meeting.

Matters relating to the Kerry-Lugar Bill and secret information sharing were discussed, the sources added. (ANI)