Operation Sindoor: The Message Behind Defence Briefing By Two Women Officers

Colonel Qureshi and Wing Commander Singh headed the Operation Sindoor briefing post precision strikes.

(Photo: PTI)

In rare and symbolic move, hours after the Indian army claimed to have conducted precision strikes to target 21 'terror camps' in Pakistan, the high-level briefing on 'Operation Sindoor' was led by two women officers – Colonel Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh. 

An officer in the Corps of Signals, Colonel Qureshi specialises in military communications and information systems.

Wing Commander Singh, on the other hand, is a decorated helicopter pilot who has previously led a critical high-altitude rescue operation in Arunachal Pradesh in November 2020 and participated in an all-women tri-services mountaineering expedition to Mt. Manirang (21,650 ft) in 2021.

More About The Officers

Colonel Sofiya Qureshi: Born in Gujarat's Vadodara, Colonel Qureshi hails from a family with a strong military tradition; her grandfather served in the Indian Army. She holds a postgraduate degree in Biochemistry and was commissioned into the Indian Army in 1999 through the Officers Training Academy, Chennai.

In 2016, she made history by becoming the first woman officer to lead an Indian Army contingent in a multinational military exercise, commanding a 40-member team at Exercise Force 18, which involved 18 countries. She also served in the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Congo in 2006 and has been associated with peacekeeping operations for over six years.

Wing Commander Vyomika Singh: First in her family to join the armed forces, Wing Commander Singh was commissioned as a helicopter pilot in the Indian Air Force, receiving a permanent commission in the flying branch in December 2019. As a helicopter pilot, she has logged over 2,500 flying hours, operating helicopters like the Chetak and Cheetah in challenging terrains, including Jammu & Kashmir and the Northeast.

Careful Messaging Behind The Move

The selection of two women officers to lead the briefing on the operation can be seen as a carefully calibrated move, especially in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack. Testimonies of survivors of the attack, which took place on 22 April, suggest that the terrorists, allegedly in an attempt to create fear killed only men, most of whom were tourists, and let the women go.

As per a report in a local Kannada newspaper, Pallavi, a tourist who lost her husband Manjunath in the attack claimed that she and her 18-year-old son confronted the terrorist and pleaded to be killed alongside Manjunath. However, the terrorist reportedly told them that he would not harm them and instead instructed them to inform Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the attack.

With one of them being a Hindu and the other a Muslim, it also sent a message of unity and communal harmony. This needs to be seen as a response to the manner in which the Pahalgam terror attack sought to divide Indians on communal lines.

Selecting these two women officers to lead the briefing, hence, sends a powerful message.

'Fearless Women...': Support Pours in on Social Media

Several people on social media platform X came out in support of the two officers, hailing them as fearless and the move as a 'bold declaration' of women leading from the front.