Pakistan-Libya faction defence deal threatens South Europe's security

New Delhi: Pakistan's recent defence deal with one of the armed factions in war-torn Libya - touted as Pakistan's biggest defence deal ever - has deeper implications for Europe and North Africa than Islamabad's outreach to the wider West Asian region.

The four billion USD deal could not only destabilise the Mediterranean region impacting security of Egypt, but also threaten Europe particularly, especially Italy which is near Libya. This might bring conflict to Italy and other Mediterranean states closer to North Africa.

That the two sides went ahead with the deal despite the UN arms embargo signifies that the deal had support from US President Donald Trump. The Pakistan Army over the past year has sought to play a critical role in America's military objectives be it in Afghanistan, Iran or Gaza. The deal is also understood to have been backed by Turkey.


The Libyan National Army led by Khalifa Haftar, which signed the deal with Pakistan, is not the internationally recognised government. It controls territory and oil infrastructure in eastern Libya but remains a non-state armed actor opposed to the UN-backed Tripoli authorities. Supplying combat aircraft to a non-state group undermines the very purpose of the arms embargo.

Libya has been under a UN arms embargo since 2011 that prohibits weapon transfers without approval to stop conflict. The UNSC imposed the embargo via Resolution 1970 in response to the then regime's violence against civilians. The goal was to prevent arms from fuelling the ongoing conflict, support reunification and restore Libya's sovereignty. The embargo is part of wider UN sanctions, including asset freezes, travel bans, and measures against illicit oil exports.

Libya and Pakistan have shared strategic ties that have contributed to each other's stature. Over 50 years back, Libya was among the countries that allegedly funded part of Pakistan's Nuclear program given the personal chemistry between the then Pakistani leader Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Libyan supremo Muammar Gaddafi. Later Abdul Qadeer Khan, father of Pakistan's N-bomb, cut a "very lucrative" deal in the 1990s to supply Libya with almost everything it needed for its nuclear arms program, from centrifuges to on-site training.