Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and his predecessor Mehbooba Mufti were engaged in a war of words on social media on Friday, with the PDP president accusing him of “provocatory” remarks at a time of heightened India-Pakistan tensions, and the CM saying she was driven by “blind lust… for political points”.
The exchange followed Abdullah’s post on X on Thursday, along with a video of his aerial tour of the Wular lake in Bandipora. Noting that the Tulbul Navigation Barrage was visible in the video, the CM said work on it started in the early 1980s “but had to be abandoned under pressure from Pakistan citing the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT)”. “Now that the IWT has been ‘temporarily suspended’, I wonder if we will be able to resume the project.”
The National Conference vice-president said they would help J&K use the Jhelum for navigation as well as improve generation in downstream power projects.
Mufti called Abdullah’s remarks “dangerously provocative… amid ongoing tensions between India & Pakistan”. In a post, she said: “At a time when both countries have just stepped back from the brink of a full-fledged war – with and Kashmir bearing the brunt… – such statements are not only irresponsible but also dangerously provocative. Our people deserve peace… Weaponizing something as essential and life-giving as water is not only inhumane but also risks internationalizing what should remain a bilateral matter.”
The Tulbul navigation project was proposed by India in 1984 for uniform flow of water in the Jhelum. It proposed construction of a barrage – over 400-ft long and 40-ft wide – on the mouth of the Jhelum as it left the Wular lake near Sopore, to control the flow. Pakistan opposed it, terming it a violation of the IWT. Later, the project was also stalled due to the eruption of militancy, with terrorists targeting the project. India and Pakistan have held several rounds of talks since, without the project resuming.
Abdullah responded to Mufti’s remark, with a post attacking her. “Actually what is unfortunate is that with your blind lust to try to score cheap publicity points & 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, adding that he stuck by his opposition to the IWT. “Opposing a blatantly unfair treaty is in no way, shape, size or form warmongering, it’s about correcting a historic injustice,” he said.
The PDP chief reacted to this with a barb at NC founder and Abdullah’s grandfather Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah. “Time will reveal who seeks to appease whom. However, it’s worth recalling that your esteemed grandfather Sheikh Sahab advocated accession to Pakistan for over two decades after losing power. But post being reinstated as Chief Minister, he suddenly reversed his stance by aligning with India,” she said, adding that in contrast, the PDP “has consistently upheld its convictions & commitments”. “We don’t need to stoke tensions or adopt warmongering rhetoric to validate our dedication,” Mufti said.
Abdullah struck back with a swipe at Mufti’s father and former CM Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. “Is that really the best you can do? Taking cheap shots at a person you yourself have called Kashmir’s tallest leader. I’ll rise above the gutter you want to take this conversation to, by keeping the late Mufti Sahib and ‘North Pole South Pole’ out of this,” Omar retorted. “You keep advocating the interests of anyone you want to & I’ll keep advocating for the interests of the people of J&K…
Now I think I’ll do some real work & you can keep posting.”
‘North Pole South Pole’ was a reference to Sayeed’s description at the time of the PDP’s alliance with the , underlining how the two opposites had come together.
Prominent PDP leader and MLA Waheed Para also joined the skirmish, saying Abdullah was trying to “sabotage the ceasefire efforts” between India and Pakistan. “This comes from a Chief Minister who tried to sabotage ceasefire efforts with war cries, watched civilians die under cross-border shelling, and whose father blamed locals for Pahalgam even after the Government of India identified the culprits,” Waheed posted on X. “Now he dares to accuse a former CM of ‘pleasing people across’? Objective is to label every peace-seeking Kashmiri as anti-national to keep Kashmir alienated from . Ironically, to score cheap political points, he brands the same former CM as a BJP ally in Kashmir and an anti-national in Delhi.”
In the wake of Operation Sindoor, both the PDP and NC had advocated de-escalation. But while the PDP had made an appeal to both India and Pakistan in this regard, the NC had said the onus for this was on Pakistan. The PDP has also accused Abdullah of conceding too much ground to the Centre to keep the NC in power.
