ISLAMABAD: Chairman of Senate Defence Committee Mushahid Hussain Sayed has called for a joint Pakistan-China counter-terror strategy, saying terrorism is a serious issue for both neighbours and terrorists are common enemies of humanity.

He made these remarks while chairing a seminar on Pakistan-China relations, which was convened to coincide with the upcoming visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Pakistan.

Senator Mushahid said that terrorism had no borders, no religion and no ethnicity and this was a trans-national problem requiring regional approach including Pakistan, China and the other four neighbours of Afghanistan, namely, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

He proposed that there should be concrete coordination, such as better border management and stringent border controls to ensure that terrorists don't cross over into each other's territory.

He welcomed the proactive political and diplomatic role of China towards Afghanistan, which included the appointment of a Special Chinese Envoy for Afghanistan, hosting of an international conference on Afghanistan for the first time in China as well as greater coordination between Beijing and Islamabad on Afghanistan.

He also announced that the Pakistan-China Institute of which he was the chairman, would be hosting a trilateral think tanks conference of Pakistan, China and Afghanistan in October 2014 in Islamabad.

Senator Mushahid further expressed that there should also be conferences of think tanks of Pakistan and China focusing on a better coordination for joint counter-terror strategy.

Pakistan, China and Afghanistan could also cooperate together in joint counter-terror strategy under the framework of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), he added.

He also called for highlighting the role of media to present a counter narrative in the campaign against terrorism.

Referring to recent incidence of violence in Xinjiang province of China, Senator Mushahid expressed solidarity with the Chinese government and its people in their efforts to combat terrorism and religious extremism.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Maria Sultan, DG and Chairperson SASSI University, said that the impact of terrorism was national as well as regional, so the counter terrorism efforts had to be made at the regional level as well.

Referring to the global war on terror, she said that after the 13 years of war almost 1 trillion US dollars had been spent in Afghanistan so far but still more than 28 provinces of Afghanistan faced the issue of terrorism.

"These are the same provinces that border the neighbouring states and in this regard, effective mechanism for the border management is essential," Dr Maria emphasized.

The Chinese speakers were of the view that the collaboration between the think tanks of Pakistan and China was an encouraging sign, as it would bring the strategic thinking from both the countries on the same page.

The seminar was attended by a large number of representatives from think tanks of both countries.