'Historic betrayal or appeasement effort?' Omar Abdullah vs Mehbooba Mufti on J-K's water project rights

A war of words has erupted between Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and former CM Mehbooba Mufti over Abdullah's call to revive the Tulbul Navigation Barrage project on Wullar Lake, following the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT). The row began when Abdullah, in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday, suggested that work on the decades-old Tulbul project, stalled under Pakistani pressure due to the IWT, could now resume.

"The Wullar Lake in North Kashmir. The civil works you see in the video are the Tulbul Navigation Barrage. It was started in the early 1980s but had to be abandoned under pressure from Pakistan, citing the Indus Waters Treaty. Now that the IWT has been 'temporarily suspended,' I wonder if we will be able to resume the project," the National Conference (NC) leader wrote, arguing that the project could enhance Jhelum river navigation and improve downstream power generation, especially in winter.

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Reacting sharply, Mufti termed Abdullah's remarks "irresponsible" and "dangerously provocative," warning that they risk inflaming tensions at a time when India and Pakistan have only recently stepped back from the brink of a full-scale conflict. "J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's call to revive the Tulbul Navigation Project amid ongoing tensions is deeply unfortunate," she said, adding that the proposal to use water as a political tool was both "inhumane" and risked "internationalising what should remain a bilateral matter."

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Abdullah hits back, cites 'historic betrayal'

Abdullah fired back, accusing Mufti of deliberately ignoring the long-standing grievances of the people of Jammu and Kashmir over the IWT, which he described as a "historic betrayal." "Actually what is unfortunate is that with your blind lust to score cheap publicity points and please some people sitting across the border, you refuse to acknowledge that the IWT has been one of the biggest historic betrayals of the interests of the people of J&K," he said, defending his stance as a push for regional rights, not warmongering.

Mufti invokes Sheikh Abdullah's legacy

Mufti escalated the confrontation, invoking the legacy of Abdullah's grandfather, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, claiming that the NC founder had once advocated for Jammu and Kashmir's accession to Pakistan before aligning with India for political gain. "Time will reveal who seeks to appease whom," she said, contrasting her party's consistent stance with what she called the NC's shifting loyalties.

Abdullah vows to 'rise above the gutter'

Responding to this, Abdullah vowed to "rise above the gutter," where he claimed Mufti wanted to take the conversation, insisting that his focus would remain on the welfare of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. "You keep advocating the interests of anyone you want to, and I'll keep advocating for the interests of the people of J&K to use our own rivers for our own benefit," he added, declaring that he would not be deterred by political mudslinging.

(With PTI inputs)