Slamming Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif for questioning the authenticity of the "Guardian of the Blue Horizon" award conferred on Prime Minister Narendra Modi by Seychelles, government sources on Saturday dismissed his remarks as baseless and politically motivated, reported NDTV.
According to the report, the government sources said Asif's comments were driven by "envy" rather than facts and described him as "mentally unstable."
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They also accused the Pakistani minister of making uninformed remarks on matters he had little understanding of, adding that "envy is always a bad motivation, particularly so from someone steeped in hate speech.”
The response came after Asif termed the honour an "engineered recognition" and alleged that it had been hastily instituted ahead of PM Modi's visit to Seychelles.
Referring to reports of typographical errors in an early version of the award citation, he described the episode as "the most embarrassing story ever."
The Seychelles government, however, has firmly rejected claims that the honour was fabricated or created specifically for the Indian Prime Minister's visit.
In an official statement, the Office of the President of Seychelles clarified that the Order of the Guardian of the Blue Horizon was established under the country's National Honours Act and had received formal approval before PM Modi's arrival.
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The government further explained that the version of the citation circulating online was an internal working draft that had been inadvertently shared before final proofreading.
It said the final citation presented during the investiture ceremony was the officially approved version and contained no typographical errors.
While India has not issued an official statement on the controversy, government sources maintained that Pakistan's criticism was driven by "envy" and lacked factual basis.
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