The Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir on Friday registered his strong protest against water from the three western rivers of the Indus system in Jammu and Kashmir flowing to Punjab, as he reminded the neighbouring state of ‘maltreating’ J&K for years.

CM Abdullah on Friday was addressing a press conference in Jammu where he said that he will ‘never allow this’ on the proposed 113-km canal to redirect the surplus water from the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab, the three western rivers of the system, to Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.

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“ Let’s use our water for ourselves first. There is a drought-like situation in Jammu. Why should I send water to Punjab? Punjab already had water (of three eastern rivers) under the Indus Water Treaty. Did they give us water when we needed it?” CM Abdullah Added.

CM Omar Abdullah, remembering how neighbouring states kept J&K waiting when the region was in dire need of water, said, “We were in dire straits then. They kept us waiting for years on the Ujh multipurpose and Shahpur Kandi barrage projects. After years, some work was done on the Shahpur Kandi barrage. This water (of the three western rivers) is for us. We will use it for ourselves and then think about others.”

On a question about how the UT was going to use water from the western river, the CM said that the government will start the Tulbul navigation project and divert the Chenab water from Akhnoor to Jammu city.

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After a terrorist attack on Baisaran in Pahalgam, which claimed 26 lives, India suspended the Indus water treaty with Pakistan as a punitive measure taken against Pakistan. The treaty brokered by the World Bank in 1960 mandated that the water from the six rivers of the system be divided between the two countries.