New Delhi: As Colonel Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh presented details of Operation Sindoor to the media Wednesday at the National Media Centre in the heart of the national capital, the underlying message was loud and clear.
That two women officers of the Indian armed forces—one of the Army and the other of the Indian Air Force (IAF)—were chosen for such important responsibility itself made an emphatic statement to the world.
The operation name, too, showed the respect that India accorded to those women who were widowed in the Pahalgam attack and in other terrorist strikes.
Col. Qureshi addressed the media in Hindi, followed by Wg. Cdr. Singh, who delivered the information in English.
The officers presented visual evidence captured by onboard targeting systems and surveillance drones, showing confirmed hits on terror infrastructure located in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
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Colonel Sofiya Qureshi
Serving in the Corps of Signals, Colonel Sofiya Qureshi comes from a family with a military background. According to the Indian Army, she was commissioned in 1990 and began her service as a lieutenant on the Punjab border. She also participated in flood relief operations in the Northeast early in her career.
In 2006, she was selected as a military observer in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She had operated in militia-affected zones during a volatile political climate and contributed to peacekeeping efforts during the country’s presidential elections.
“During this deployment, she helped reunite a missing five-year-old girl with her family and was awarded a Force Commander Commendation on United Nations Day,” a defence official told ThePrint.
In 2016, the decorated officer became the first woman to lead the Indian contingent in Exercise Force 18, a large ASEAN-plus multinational field training exercise hosted in India. The Ministry of Defence shared on ‘X’ that Colonel Sofiya Qureshi was the only woman commander among representatives from 18 participating countries participating in the exercise centred around themes of humanitarian mine clearance and peace-keeping.
She has also served with UN training teams in South Africa, Cambodia, and Bangladesh. Sources in the Army said that the officer conducted workshops aimed at engaging and motivating youth, particularly girls, in conflict-prone areas such as Kashmir. For this work, she was awarded the Chief of Army Staff Plaque of Honour.
Colonel Sofiya Qureshi has been closely involved in the integration of women into the Indian Army. “She played a supporting role in the 2016 initiative to induct women soldiers into the Corps of Military Police,” the above-mentioned official said. “In 2020, as Second-in-Command of the Military Provost Unit, she was tasked with training the first batch of Women Military Police, who were subsequently deployed in counter-insurgency zones.”
“For her contribution to women empowerment, she has received multiple commendations, including citations from the Vice Chief of Army Staff,” the official added.
Wing Commander Vyomika Singh
A helicopter pilot with the IAF, Wing Commander Vyomika Singh has flown missions in some of the country’s most difficult operational environments.
Her journey began in the National Cadet Corps (NCC) during her school years, followed by an engineering degree. She was commissioned into the IAF in 2009 and later received a permanent commission in the flying branch.
Wing Commander Vyomika Singh has flown both Chetak and Cheetah helicopters extensively, logging over 2,500 hours of flying experience. Her postings have included high-altitude and remote regions in Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast region.
In November 2020, she led an air relief mission in Arunachal Pradesh, where helicopter support was considered critical. The mission, according to reports, was carried out in a remote, high-altitude area under difficult weather conditions, and played a key role in life-saving evacuations.
In 2021, the IAF officer was part of a tri-services all-women expedition to 21,650-ft high Mt Manirang.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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