In 2021, the #AakhirKabTak candlelight protests against Pakistan-backed terrorists’ killing of innocents began at a single Dal Lake shikara ghat and spread across the Kashmir Valley. Never before had Kashmiris shown such courage. A critical report in The Caravan in 2022 failed to dampen this yearning for peace. The protests continued into 2026, long after Major General Sanjay P Vishwasrao had moved from Srinagar to Delhi in December 2022.