EU to resume contacts with Pakistan

The European Union is resuming political contacts with Pakistan a year after it froze them in response to the military coup there.

A team of senior EU officials is visiting Pakistan in the next few days to examine the country's economic and political situation.

Although the EU says ties will only be fully normalised once democracy is restored, analysts say this visit does mark the beginning of a new European approach to dealing with Pakistan, which has also been criticised for carrying out nuclear tests, its use of child labour, and helping Islamic militants in Central Asia and the Middle East.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service