Operation Sindoor: Meet Col Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh leading Modi Govt’s military messaging

“We are first Indians and then Hindus or Muslims. I am very proud of Sofiya,” Qureshi’s father, Taj Mohammad, told The Indian Express at their residence after watching his daughter face the cameras. “Only women who lose their sindoor can understand the pain inflicted on them. What the Government did to avenge Pahalgam was needed…When we spoke to Sofiya after the media briefing, she only asked, ‘Did you see the news?’” Qureshi’s mother, Halima, said.

During the briefing, Qureshi addressed the media in Hindi, explaining the choice of targets destroyed through the precision strikes, while Singh followed with the same information in English.

For Wg Cmdr Singh, the media appearance marked a high point ever since she “wanted to be a pilot and own the sky” as early as in Class 6. “I was in Class 6 when the Eureka moment happened,” she recalled during a TV panel discussion two years ago. “We were having a discussion in class on the meaning of names. Somebody shouted, ‘You are Vyomika, which means you own the sky’. Since that day, I have wanted to be a pilot. This was in the early 1990s,” she had said.

Col Sofiya Qureshi holds the rare distinction of being the first woman officer to lead an Indian Army contingent in a major multinational military exercise. In 2016, then a 35-year-old Lieutenant Colonel, she led a 40-member contingent in Exercise FORCE 18 that involved ASEAN Plus countries — the largest ground forces exercise ever conducted on Indian soil at the time.

Qureshi also served in the United Nations Peacekeeping Operation in Congo in 2006 and has been associated with peacekeeping operations for over six years. Asked later about leading the contingent, she had said, “I feel proud, of course.” Her message to young women in the armed forces? “Work hard for the country and make everyone proud.”

Col Sofiya Qureshi (right) and Wg Cdr Vyomika Singh after the press briefing in Delhi, Wednesday. (Express photo by Anil Sharma)

During that time, she had even drawn praise from the then Army Commander of Southern Command, the late General Bipin Rawat, who later became the Army Chief and India’s first Chief of Defence Staff. He had said, “In the Army, we believe in equal opportunity and equal responsibility. There is no difference between male and female officers. She was chosen not because she is a woman but because she has the abilities and leadership qualities to shoulder the responsibility.”

An officer of the Army’s Signal Corps, Qureshi was also one of 11 women officers whose achievements were highlighted by the Supreme Court in its landmark 2020 judgment on gender parity in the Army’s top positions. The judgment dismissed the Government’s arguments against granting women command appointments and acknowledged the accomplishments of the 11 officers. “Women officers of the Indian Army have brought laurels to the force,” the Supreme Court noted.

She holds a postgraduate degree in Biochemistry, and hails from a family with a military tradition — her grandfather served in the Army, and her father was an religious teacher in the Army. Qureshi joined the Army through the Officers Training Academy in 1999 and is married to Major Tajuddin Qureshi of the Mechanised Infantry. “Now Sofiya’s son is also preparing to join the Air Force,” Qureshi’s mother said.

Wg Cmdr Vyomika Singh, a helicopter pilot, was commissioned into the IAF on December 18, 2004, as part of the 21st Short Service Commission (Women) Flying Pilot Course and was promoted to the rank of Wing Commander on December 18, 2017. Specialising in helicopter operations, she has logged over 2,500 flying hours on Chetak and Cheetah helicopters. In 2021, she participated in a tri-services all-women mountaineering expedition to Mt. Manirang, one of the highest peaks of Himachal Pradesh.

On Wednesday, the significance of the two women officers being chosen to disclose the details of Operation Sindoor, along with Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, was not lost on anyone.

On September 29, 2016, after the surgical strikes carried out in response to the Uri attack, the Government had chosen Lt Gen Ranbir Singh, then Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) of the Army, to brief the media. Three years later, after the Balakot airstrikes on February 26, 2019, the responsibility was given to then Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Col Qureshi’s sister, Shyna, who co-runs a film production house in Mumbai, said, “We spoke yesterday and as a duty-bound Army officer that she is, she did not mention a word about what was to come this morning. It was a surprise for all of us, but a proud moment.”