Special Correspondent: Pakistan has reached a deal worth over $4 billion to sell military equipment to the Libyan National Army, four Pakistani officials said, despite a U.N. arms embargo on the fractured North African country. The deal, one of Pakistan’s largest-ever weapons sales, was finalised after a meeting last week between Pakistan military chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and Saddam Khalifa Haftar, deputy commander-in-chief of the LNA, in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, said the four officials.

The officials, all involved in defence matters, declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the deal. Pakistan’s foreign ministry, defence ministry and military did not respond to requests for comment. The multi-billion-dollar major conventional arms export deal by Pakistan to Libya is reflective of two key aspects.

The deal endorses PM Shahbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir’s leadership for an export-driven self-sustained economy. It also reflects Pakistan’s domestic industrial prowess on one hand and FM Asim Munir’s statesmanship as a soldier diplomat on the other. In recent past, Pakistan has made remarkable progress in developing its indigenous industrial base including mines and minerals, artificial intelligence, Information Technology, Crytpo currency, Large-scale manufacturing, Agriculture and defence technologies, etc.

Pakistan’s indigenous defence products were demonstrated and admired by all in the recent Mark-e-Haq. Pakistan has a long history of being a supplier of conventional arms and equipment to many countries for quite some time now. However, the deal struck with Libya is historic in terms of size and financial impact; a credit to Field Marshal Asim Munir’s extraordinary skills in military diplomacy.

On UN arms embargo on Libya, first it needs to acknowledge that many major Western and Middle East have been supplying weapons and equipment to Libya for many years. So, there is a paper embargo which is factually non-existent due to multiple reasons, not least that all parties are now selling to all since more than a decade.

With this deal, Pakistan has announced its entry into the club of leading exporters of conventional arms and equipment. However, a Reuters report says the arms agreement with the LNA is likely to face scrutiny given Libya’s long-running instability following a 2011 NATO-backed uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi and split the country between rival authorities.

The LNA’s official media channel reported on Sunday that the faction had entered a defence cooperation pact with Pakistan, which included weapons sales, joint training and military manufacturing, without providing details.

“We announce the launch of a new phase of strategic military cooperation with Pakistan,” Haftar said in remarks broadcast on Sunday by Al-Hadath television. Authorities in Benghazi also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The U.N.-recognised Government of National Unity, led by Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah, controls much of western Libya, while Haftar’s LNA controls the east and south, including major oilfields, and does not recognise the western government’s authority.