A heated exchange unfolded on X between former Jammu & Kashmir Chief Ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti over the possible revival of the long-stalled Tulbul Navigation Project. The project, halted since 2007 due to objections raised by Pakistan under the Indus Water Treaty (IWT), has resurfaced as a political flashpoint following suggestions by Abdullah that it could now be resumed, given the treaty’s current suspended status.
On Thursday, Abdullah posted a video of the Wular Lake—central to the Tulbul project—and remarked that the navigation project, launched in 1987 to regulate water flow from the Jhelum River, could be revisited. “Since the Indus Water Treaty is suspended, I am wondering if we could resume the project,” he wrote, arguing that it would enhance downstream power generation during the winter months.
Mehbooba Mufti sharply criticized the proposal, calling it “deeply irresponsible and dangerously provocative” given the current geopolitical tensions between India and Pakistan. She accused Abdullah of exploiting the situation for political mileage and warned that such rhetoric risks internationalizing a bilateral issue and could destabilize the fragile ceasefire.
“Our people deserve peace as much as anyone else in the country. Weaponizing something as essential and life-giving as water is not only inhumane but also risks internationalizing what should remain a bilateral matter,” Mufti posted.
Abdullah hit back, accusing Mufti of “trying to please someone across the border” and dismissed her criticism as political grandstanding. He described the Indus Water Treaty as a “historic betrayal” of Jammu and Kashmir’s interests. “Opposing a blatantly unfair treaty is not warmongering,” he stated. “It’s about correcting an injustice that denied the people of J&K the right to use our own water.”
The spat deepened when Mufti invoked the legacy of Sheikh Abdullah, accusing the late leader of flip-flopping between supporting accession to Pakistan and later aligning with India. “Time will remind who is appeasing whom,” she wrote, suggesting Omar Abdullah was ignoring historical nuance in favor of populist politics.
In a further rebuttal, Abdullah resurfaced an old headline in which Mufti herself had acknowledged that Jammu and Kashmir had suffered due to the IWT—suggesting inconsistency in her stance.
Mufti responded by dismissing Abdullah’s claims as a “reckless policy” that could derail the ceasefire and stoke instability. She emphasized that during the PDP-BJP alliance in 2017, efforts were made to compensate for the losses stemming from the IWT through alternative projects—without ever advocating for scrapping the treaty.
“Let me be clear,” she said. “We never supported abrogating the Indus Water Treaty. Such a step could heighten tensions and once again place J&K at the epicenter of conflict. Water must be used for sustaining life—not as a tool of provocation.”
