{"id":358101,"date":"2026-01-10T21:51:48","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T16:21:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/?p=358101"},"modified":"2026-01-10T21:51:48","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T16:21:48","slug":"omar-renews-opposition-to-now-suspended-indus-waters-treaty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/omar-renews-opposition-to-now-suspended-indus-waters-treaty\/","title":{"rendered":"Omar renews opposition to now-suspended Indus Waters Treaty"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-1 wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" data-id=\"358102\"  src=\"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/media\/2026\/01\/Riyaz-Omar.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-358102\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/media\/2026\/01\/Riyaz-Omar.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/tehelka.com\/media\/2026\/01\/Riyaz-Omar-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/tehelka.com\/media\/2026\/01\/Riyaz-Omar-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/tehelka.com\/media\/2026\/01\/Riyaz-Omar-696x392.jpg 696w, https:\/\/tehelka.com\/media\/2026\/01\/Riyaz-Omar-747x420.jpg 747w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has welcomed the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, saying the agreement had long harmed the interests of the region and that its suspension would allow Jammu and Kashmir to utilise its own water resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking at a news conference in Amritsar, Omar reiterated his opposition to the decades-old treaty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI have been against it from the very first day. The Indus Water Treaty has greatly harmed us. It is good that the treaty has been suspended,\u201d the Chief Minister said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said the next step should be concrete measures to ensure Jammu and Kashmir can effectively use its water resources for the benefit of its people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNow I want measures to be taken so that we are able to use that water for ourselves. We have given two projects to the centre, which we think will benefit us. One is the Jhelum navigation barrage, known as the Tulbul Navigation Barrage,\u201d Omar said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Explaining the impact of the proposed project, he said, \u201cWater level in Wular will increase, and as a result, water in the Jhelum will also increase. Electricity production will increase, and Jhelum will be used for navigation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Chief Minister said the Jammu and Kashmir government remained in continuous communication with the Centre regarding these projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Omar also spoke about the challenges faced by the tourism sector in Jammu and Kashmir over the past year, describing it as particularly difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLast year was difficult for us. When tourism started reviving, the Delhi bomb blast proved to be another setback for us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, he noted that tourism had shown signs of recovery with the onset of snowfall in Kashmir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSince snowfall has begun, tourism in Kashmir has increased,\u201d Omar said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He added that while the government would continue to promote tourism, it would not release tourism figures this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe will continue to promote tourism, but numbers and our success ratio will remain with us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Highlighting the importance of domestic tourism, Omar said Gujarat, Maharashtra and West Bengal remain key source markets for visitors to Jammu and Kashmir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe are trying our best to revive tourism in these states. I cannot say that we have succeeded, but it feels like tourism has gradually revived since snowfall has started,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has welcomed the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, saying the agreement had long harmed the interests of the region and that its suspension would allow Jammu and Kashmir to utilise its own water resources. Speaking at a news conference in Amritsar, Omar reiterated his opposition to the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":358102,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2016,2014],"tags":[1380,20281,1141],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358101"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358101"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":358103,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358101\/revisions\/358103"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/358102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}