WASHINGTON - Pakistan's Ambassador to the United States Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry on Wednesday issued a rebuttal to the letter written to him by Abdul Basit, the former high commissioner to India, calling it "disgusting".

Chaudhry told journalists that Basit's letter, which had been making rounds on social media since Monday night, was “too rude and uncalled for”.

Basit in his letter addressed to Chaudhry, dated July 5, 2017, lambasted the latter's tenure as foreign secretary apparently over a number of foreign policy gaffes made during his time in the office. “He [Basit] wrongly thought that he could not reach the post of foreign secretary because of me — he has since retired,” Chaudhry said in his response which was emailed to journalists.

“I have served my country to the best of my abilities. Some of us like Basit fail to realise that life is a combination of human endeavour and fate. We have to accept in humility what life gives us and then thank the Creator for that,” the envoy was quoted as saying. "Jealousy has no remedy."

Chaudhry said after the letter became public, many colleagues expressed their support and friendship to him. "Now that the letter is on social media, I thought I should share with you my sense of disappointment at being targeted like that."

Basit, in his letter, had called Chaudhry "the worst foreign secretary ever". Sources in the Foreign Office had confirmed that the letter was authentic.