Jammu, June 21 -- Chief minister Omar Abdullah on Friday strongly opposed the flow of water from the three western rivers of the Indus system in Jammu and Kashmir to Punjab, reminding the neighbouring state of how it had "maltreated" J&K for years together. On the 113-km canal proposed for redirecting surplus water from the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab, the three western rivers of the system, to Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, Abdullah said, "I will never allow this. 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?" "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." Asked how Jammu and Kashmir was going to use the western river waters, he said that the government would restart the Tulbul navigation project and divert the Chenab water from Akhnoor to Jammu city. After the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22 that left 26 people dead and scores injured, India has kept in abeyance the Indus Water Treaty of 1960 with Pakistan. Senior BJP leader and former J&K deputy CM Kavinder Gupta slammed Abdullah for his "amateurish" statements. "The decision to use our river waters has been taken by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the larger interest of the nation. We are one nation and J&K is not a separate country. He (Omar) can't take such a decision. Who is he to take such a call. It is amateurish on his part to make such an unwarranted statement," he said. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) spokesperson Neel Garg, in response to Abdullah's comments, said the J&K chief minister cannot take a unilateral decision on this matter. "During the war with Pakistan, the central government decided to annul the Indus Waters Treaty. Now, it is their responsibility to appropriately distribute the remaining water and give Punjab its rightful share," Garg said. SEE ALSO P3...