While the tension on the borders was gradually de-escalating, a fierce war of words broke out between Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti on Friday on the issue of revival of the long stalled Tulbul Navigation Project in North Kashmir after the suspension of the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) by India following the massacre of 26 tourists in the Pahalgam terror attack.

The confrontation between the two leaders escalated within a few hours, and Omar accused Mehbooba of trying to please some people sitting in Pakistan by opposing the project.

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The issue became hot after Omar, on Thursday evening, posted a video of the abandoned Tulbul project. Omar wrote on X: “The Wular lake in North Kashmir. The civil works you see in the video is the Tulbul Navigation Barrage. It was started in the early 1980s but had to be abandoned under pressure from Pakistan, citing the Indus Water Treaty. Now that the IWT has been “temporarily suspended, I wonder if we will be able to resume the project. It will give us the advantage of allowing us to use the Jhelum for navigation. It will also improve the power generation of downstream power projects, especially in winter”.

Hitting back at Omar, PDP leader Mehbooba wrote on X: “Weaponizing something as essential and life-giving as water is not only inhumane but also risks internationalising what should remain a bilateral matter”.

Saying that he will continue to oppose the IWT, Omar wrote back “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. I have always opposed this treaty & I will continue to do so. Opposing a blatantly unfair treaty is in no way, shape, size, or form warmongering, it’s about correcting a historic injustice that denied the people of J&K the right to use our water for ourselves”.

Reacting, Mehbooba said: “J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s call to revive the Tulbul Navigation Project amid ongoing tensions between India & Pakistan is deeply unfortunate. At a time when both countries have just stepped back from the brink of a full-fledged war—with Jammu and Kashmir bearing the brunt through the loss of innocent lives, widespread destruction, and immense suffering, such statements are not only irresponsible but also dangerously provocative. Our people deserve peace as much as anyone else in the country. Weaponising something as essential and life-giving as water is not only inhumane but also risks internationalising what should remain a bilateral matter”.

The argument further stretched when Mehbooba brought in Omar’s grandfather and J&K’s first Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah into the debate, saying: “Time will reveal who seeks to appease whom. However, it’s worth recalling that your esteemed grandfather, Sheikh Sahab, once advocated for 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”.

Omar also dug into the past when Mehbooba’s father, Mufti Sayeed, after PDP’s alliance with the BJP in 2014, had described it as a handshake between the North and the South Poles. He wrote, “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. You keep advocating the interests of anyone you want to & I’ll keep advocating for the interests of the people of J&K to use our own rivers for our own benefit. I’m not going to stop the water, just use more of it for ourselves. Now I think I’ll do some real work & you can keep posting”.