For many in the Valley, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti is the “last woman” standing before the Centre’s jackboot tactics. But here in South Kashmir's Noorabad, her attention-grabbing “milk and toffee” remark that symbolised her iron-fist policy against protesters in 2016 seems to be cast in stone.

As Anantnag-Rajouri seat also called the South Kashmir seat witnessed an impressive 35-year high of 53 per cent turnout (at 7pm), a candidate getting the majority votes in Kulgam district, which includes Noorabad, will likely have an edge.

The previous highest for South Kashmir was 50 per cent in 1996. In 2019, the turnout was a mere 9.07 per cent. The voter turnout across all five parliamentary seats in Jammu and Kashmir was 58 per cent, surpassing the 49.58 per cent recorded in 2014 and the 47.99 per cent in 1996.

The constituency is locked in a triangular contest between Mehbooba, a Kashmiri, National Conference’s Mian Altaf, a Gujjar, and BJP-backed Apni Party’s Zaffar Iqbal Manhas, a Pahari. The Lok Sabha constituency is spread over Anantnag and Kulgam districts and parts of Shopian district in the Valley, and Rajouri and Poonch districts in the Jammu region.

One of the main worries for Mehbooba is that many people in Kulgam, mainly its Noorabad Assembly segment, spread over 140 villages with its headquarters in Damhal Hanjipora (also called DH Pora), have not forgotten her “milk and toffee” remark.

Though the constituency saw a 53 per cent turnout, the Valley districts that have an overwhelming majority of Kashmiri speakers polled around 40 per cent. The Rajouri and Poonch districts, where most residents are Gujjars, Bakerwals and Paharis, the turnout went up to 65 per cent.

The low turnout in Kashmir is a cause of concern in the Mehbooba camp, as she was banking on the Kashmiri votes. PDP sources said the party got a good number of votes in Anantnag and Shopian but Kulgam remained the Achilles heel.

Kulgam is spread over Kulgam and Noorabad Assembly segments. The segment is a stronghold of the CPM, which is supporting the NC this time. The PDP had won Noorabad in 2014 Assembly polls but the party faces an uphill task this election. Noorabad’s turnout was 55 per cent till 5pm, the highest in the Valley after Pahalgam with 56 per cent.

During the 2016 summer agitation after Hizb commander Burhan Wani’s death, Mehbooba, the then chief minister, had said at a media conference with Union home minister Rajnath Singh that the protesting youth did not go to the security camps to “buy milk and toffee.”

Dozens of the youth were killed, including two in DH Pora, hundreds were injured and thousands were arrested during the agitation.

“People came on roads. We imposed the curfew. Did the children go to army camps to buy toffee? When a 15-year-old kid in Damhal Hanjipora attacked a police station, did he go to buy milk,” Mehbooba had said in 2016.

The remark symbolised her apparent disregard for the sufferings of the Valley and is frequently quoted by her detractors, along with the decision of her party to align with BJP in 2015, to censure her.

In the run-up to the 2019 parliamentary polls, she unequivocally apologised for the remark, calling it an outburst of a “hurt mother” but that did not help her party win the seat, otherwise her bastion.

For many people in South Kashmir today, it is an old story. Her latest innings, beginning with her 14-month detention in the wake of the 2019 scrapping of the special status, systematic dismantling of her party and her firm stand against Delhi have earned her many admirers.

For DH Pora residents and its surrounding villages, the 2016 remark is still fresh in their minds.

"This place has always voted, irrespective of what South Kashmir is known for (being a separatist hub). All we care about is development because ours is the most backward area in South Kashmir. Mehbooba has hurt us with her remars. We have not forgotten that,” said NC supporter Adil Ahmad Rather.

Residents recalled DH Pora and its surrounding areas had erupted with protests after Burhan Wani’s death following which thousands converged on streets.

“My daughter Yasmeena (an undergraduate student) had gone out to check for her younger brother. He had gone out to buy bread. She was shot and killed (by the forces). It is how the protests turned violent," said her mother Haseena Akhtar, who lives in a modest house in DH Pora.

“People were angry over my daughter’s death. They attacked the police station (and set it on fire). One more local was killed in the firing and many were injured. My daughter was innocent. Instead, Mehbooba cast us as rogues, worthy of bullets,” she added.

Haseena said the health of her husband, Abdul Rahman Wani, deteriorated after their daughter’s death and he passed away last year.

“We used to cast our votes before our daughter’s death but stopped after that. We don’t care who wins or loses. Nobody came to our help all these years,” she said.

At the nearby Arijan village, separated by Veshaw Nallah from DH Pora, a mention of the “remark” triggered a heated argument between supporters of the PDP and NC.

“It was a motherly exhortation,” said a youth supporter of PDP.

“But is it how you counsel?” another youth shot back, saying dozens were arrested in the villages after the incident.