Decode Politics: Why simmering J&K, Punjab row over water has come to a boil

Indian Express

6 hours ago

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said Friday that he would not allow the water from the Union Territory to be diverted to other states, such as Punjab.
Omar was reacting to reports that the Centre has proposed to divert water from the Chenab river to Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan after it suspended the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) with Pakistan following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. The reports suggested that the Union Jal Shakti ministry is working on a war-footing to develop infrastructure for its proposed move.
Asked about the proposed construction of a 113-km canal by the Centre to transfer surplus water from J&K to Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan to prevent it from flowing to Pakistan, Omar told reporters: 'Why should I send water to Punjab? I will not permit this. Let us 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 under the Indus Water Treaty.'
Omar also referred to the Shahpur-Kandi barrage dispute between Punjab and J&K, saying 'Did Punjab give us water when we needed it?'
Omar's remarks drew a sharp response from political parties in Punjab, with the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) saying that the J&K CM could not make a 'unilateral decision'. The Punjab AAP's spokesperson Neel Garg said, 'Whenever there is a war, Punjab becomes the battleground. And when the country needs foodgrains, it becomes the granary of the nation. Now that there is water available, Punjab has a legitimate claim over it.'
The Punjab Congress's president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring took to X to criticise Omar's statements, saying 'It's sad that J&K CM Omar Abdullah ji has started doing politics over the proposed canals to be constructed to prevent flow of water to Pakistan. Want to ask Omar sahab, doesn't it amount to treating us at a par with Pakistan?'
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and ex-minister Daljit Singh Cheema accused Omar of doing 'injustice' to Punjab and pointed to the state's role as the food bowl of the country. 'Every time it is Punjab which suffers the most. River waters were snatched from our state… It is a historical fact that the then Indira Gandhi government did great injustice to Punjab by giving away a huge share of its river water to Rajasthan, a non-riparian state,' he said.
In 1979, the Punjab and J&K governments signed an agreement to build the Shahpur-Kandi barrage project to stop the flow of water to Pakistan from the Ravi river.
Under the Indus Water Treaty, India has exclusive rights on the waters from three eastern rivers of Sutlej, Ravi and Beas that flow through Punjab, while Pakistan has rights on Jhelum, Indus and Chenab that pass through J&K.
Under the agreement between J&K and Punjab – which was signed by Omar's grandfather and then J&K CM Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah and his then Punjab counterpart Prakash Singh Badal – water from the dam would be shared by them to irrigate land in Punjab and the Jammu region in J&K.
In 2004, the Punjab government passed a legislation in the Assembly terminating all its water-sharing agreements. This included the 1979 pact with J&K, leading to the objections from the latter and a complete halt in the Shahpur-Kandi barrage project in 2014. The work on the project was resumed in 2018 after the Centre mediated between the two governments.
'They (Punjab) made us cry for so many years,' Omar said Friday. 'We will first use this water for ourselves and then we will think about others.'
J&K's grievance against Punjab over water is not new. J&K feels that Punjab got an 'unfair advantage' from the Indus Water Treaty at its cost. J&K cannot dam or store the water from its three critical rivers – Jhelum, Indus and Chenab – and use only the natural flow of the water causing huge losses to it in terms of irrigation and hydropower generation. On the other hand, Punjab has got the exclusive rights to use the waters of Sutlej, Beas and Ravi as a compensation for the three rivers of J&K.
The J&K government has often sought compensation for the 'losses' incurred by it over the last 65 years because of the Indus Water Treaty.
While the political parties in J&K seek compensation for the losses caused by the Indus Water Treaty, they have mostly shied away from calling for the Treaty's scrapping given the hostilities it can cause between India and Pakistan.
After the suspension of the Treaty, Omar's pitch for the revival of the Tulbul navigation project – intended to stabilise Jhelum's water level – in the Valley, which has been objected to by Pakistan, was criticised by the Opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The PDP has called it 'deeply provocative' amid tensions between the two neighbours. 'Weaponising something as essential and life-giving as water is not only inhuman but also risks internationalising what should remain a bilateral issue,' PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti said.