Col Sofiya Qureshi: An Army signals officer who briefed media on ‘Operation Sindoor’

Col Sofiya Qureshi, who briefed the media on Wednesday alongside Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh on India’s ‘Operation Sindoor’, is a multi-generation officer in the Army who imbibed the spirit of serving the nation from an early age.

During the briefing, the two women officers — Col Sofiya and Wing Commander Vyomika — flanked the foreign secretary on the dais, who delivered the opening statement from the government, hours after the Indian armed forces carried out missile strikes on nine terror targets in Pakistan and PoK, including the Jaish-e-Mohammad stronghold of Bahawalpur and Lashkar-e-Taiba’s base Muridke.

Qureshi and Singh shared the names and details of the sites targeted from 1 am to 1.30 am on the intervening night of May 6-7.

Qureshi, an officer from the Corps of Signals, spoke in Hindi while IAF helicopter pilot Singh shared the details in English, complementing each other.

The military strikes were carried out under ‘Operation Sindoor’ two weeks after the massacre of 26 civilians in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam.

In a panel discussion hosted in 2017, Qureshi shared about her journey into the armed forces, and what inspired her to don the olive-green uniform.

“Being a ‘fauji’ kid, I was exposed to the army environment. My mother wanted either of us two sisters to join the Army. I applied for it and got it. My grandfather was also in the Army, and he used to say ‘it is our responsibility, of every citizen, to be alert and stand up for our country and defend the nation’. It is a dignified and an honourable job,” she had recalled.

She also said that when she “joined the academy, the Kargil war was going on".

The officer also led an army training contingent at a multinational field training exercise in 2016.

“1st woman officer to lead an Army training contingent at Force18 – #ASEAN Plus multinational field training exercise in 2016. She was the only Woman Officers Contingent Commander among all #ASEAN Plus contingents. #WomensDay #IWD2020 #EachforEqual #SheInspiresUs," the Ministry of Defence had said in a Woman’s Day post on X, sharing a photograph of Qureshi.

India