Pakistan will take rigorous measures to ensure the safety of Chinese nationals working there, the country's Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao has said.

"About 3,600 Chinese are working on various projects in Pakistan. We have deployed 600 law enforcement personnel to protect them - and that number is increasing," he said on Tuesday.

Sherpao met with Minister of Public Security Zhou Yongkang to discuss ways how to cooperate to fight terrorism and extremism.

"China would like to work more closely with Pakistan in fields such as law enforcement and counter-terrorism," Zhou said.

Sherpao's visit follows the release of seven abducted Chinese - a couple and five of their woman employees - in Islamabad on Saturday. They were kidnapped by militant students.

Appreciating the Pakistani government's help in getting them released, Zhou said Beijing hopes Islamabad will take foolproof measures to ensure the safety of all Chinese working in that country.

Grateful for help

Sherpao, on his part, thanked the Public Security Ministry for giving Pakistan 3 million yuan ($393,780) for policing and police equipment.

Sherpao also discussed the possibility of having an officers-exchange program to learn from one another's experiences. "We are fighting the war on terror and we have 85,000 agents on our borders, therefore we invited Chinese law enforcement agents to Pakistan," Sherpao said.

The details of the plan will be discussed at a joint working group meeting in Beijing in November, Sherpao said.

Pakistan has been actively involved in fighting terrorism right after the 9/11 attack, he said. It has conducted more than 80 major operations against terrorism and lost about 400 law enforcement personnel.

"That is a large number. Our resolve is to curb terrorism. We are not doing it under compulsion. We are doing this out of conviction," Sherpao said.

So far about 700 Taliban members have been killed in those operations, he added.