Bhubaneswar: The Indian military establishment today deployed two women officers to brief the media about ‘Operation Sindoor’, the country’s precision airstrikes against terror infrastructure in Pakistan following the April 22 Pahalgam attack.  

Colonel Sophia Qureshi of the Indian Army and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh of the Indian Airforce gave all details of the daring operation to media in New Delhi.

This is perhaps a rare occasion, when the Indian authorities deployed two women officers to brief the entire world about a military operation.

Who is Colonel Sophia Qureshi?

Qureshi, aged around 45, is a senior officer from the Indian Army’s Corps of Signals. She is a native of Vadodara in Gujarat and has done postgraduate degree in biochemistry.

Qureshi had been commissioned as a Lieutenant from the Officers Training Academy in Chennai in 1999. She is the first woman officer to command a contingent of Indian Army in a multinational military exercise in 2016.

The woman officer’s grandfather had also served in the Indian Army. She is married to Major Tajuddin Qureshi, an officer in the Mechanised Infantry. The couple has a son.

Qureshi had also served in the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Congo in 2006.

Who is Wing Commander Vyomika Singh?

Singh is a helicopter pilot of the Indian Airforce. She is the first person from her family to join the armed forces. Singh was a member of National Cadet Corps (NCC) during her schooldays.

Singh, a native of Lucknow,  had studied engineering before joining the Indian Airforce. The Indian Airforce gave her a permanent commission in its flying branch in 2019.

The woman officer, aged around 40, piloted Chetak and Cheetah helicopters of the Indian Airforce across some of the most challenging terrains in India, including Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast. Singh has so far logged more than 2,500 flying hours.