Pakistan, which is at the mercy of China, is preparing to sell a large consignment of weapons to the African country Libya. Pakistan will sell arms worth more than $400 million to Libya. This deal is one of the biggest arms sales of Pakistan till date. The United Nations Security Council has imposed an arms embargo on Libya, under which there is a ban on selling and buying weapons and military equipment from Libya.
Deal reached in the meeting of Munir and Saddam Khalifa
According to the report of news agency Reuters, under this deal, Pakistan will sell weapons to the Libyan National Army (LNA). Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir had visited Benghazi city of Libya last week in this connection. Here he met Saddam Khalifa Haftar, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Libyan Army. Talks on arms deal were finalized between the two leaders. Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry, Defense Ministry and Army have not yet issued a statement on this.
16 Mention of JF-17 fighter jet
Reuters claims that it had seen a copy of the deal before it was sealed, in which 16 JF-17 fighter jets were mentioned. JF-17 is a combat aircraft, which is jointly developed by Pakistan and China. The report claims that a Pakistani official called the deal fair.
One of the Pakistani officials said that the deal includes the sale of equipment for land, sea and air forces, which will be completed over a period of two and a half years. He also said that JF-17 fighter planes may also be included in this. Two officials said the deal was valued at more than $4 billion, while another two said it was worth $4.6 billion.
Libyan Army had talked about defense deal
The official media channel of the Libyan National Army said on Sunday that they have signed a defense deal with Pakistan, which includes arms sales, joint training and military manufacturing. Three Pakistani officials said that this agreement does not violate any UN arms embargo.
An official said that Pakistan is not the only country to make agreements with Libya. Another said that there are no sanctions on Libya. Another Pakistani official said, while a third said Libyan officials are seeing better relations with Western countries given the increase in fuel exports.
