Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday asserted that he will not allow water of Jammu and Kashmir to be diverted to Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan as it is for the people of the Union Territory.
He was replying to a question on the centre’s proposal to build a 113 kms long canal to carry Chenab’s water to Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.
The Chief Minister was talking to reporters in Jammu. He said at present Jammu requires water as the region is witnessing a drought-like situation.
“Why should I send water to Punjab, Haryana and Rajastham?” “I will never 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. Did they give us water when we needed it?” he added.
Replying to another question on the report submitted by the cabinet sub-committee on reservation, Omar said, “The cabinet has accepted the report of the cabinet sub-committee and has sent the report to the law department for legal scrutiny. There were several committees set up by the governments all over the country, but it is for the first time that a committee has submitted its report within the stipulated time. We have to follow the process, and the report has been sent to the law department for legal scrutiny.”
Slamming PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti for attacking the cabinet sub-committee report on reservation, Omar said, “I can provide several X posts of Mehbooba Mufti when she was contesting from Anantnag seat during the Parliamentary elections, she had directed her party leaders not to speak about the reservation issue because she wanted votes of people.”
On the Iran-Israel war, Omar said it is never a good thing to have a war. “Some time ago, the American intelligence chief had said that Iran was nowhere in sight to develop nuclear weapons, but what prompted Israel to attack Iran now. This escalation is not good as hundreds of Indian citizens and students are stuck there. Our 1300 to 1400 students are stranded there, and some were brought back recently, and we are trying to evacuate all of them,” Omar said.
Replying to the statehood issue, Omar said that he is still hopeful that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will keep his promise of giving statehood to Jammu and Kashmir soon.