Op Sindoor: Who are Col Sophia Qureshi & Wing Cdr Vyomika Singh, the officers who unmasked Pakistan?

Wing Commander Vyomika Singh and Colonel Sophia Qureshi, two senior Indian Armed Forces officers, jointly addressed the media regarding Operation Sindoor. Know all about them.

Image Credit: ANI

Two senior women officers of the Indian Armed Forces — Wing Commander Vyomika Singh and Colonel Sophia Qureshi — jointly briefed the media on May 7 on the recently conducted Operation Sindoor. The operation was in response to the killing of 26 Indian tourists in Pahalgam. Terror headquarters of banned Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen were targeted. 

Among the targets hit in a precise operation were Markaz Subhan Allah at Bahawalpur, Sarjal at Tehra Kalan, Markaz Abbas in Kotli and Syedna Bilal camp in Muzaffarabad (all of the banned Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group).

Who is Colonel Sophia Qureshi?

The first female officer to lead an Indian Army force in a global military exercise is Colonel Sophia Qureshi, a distinguished officer in the Indian Army's Corps of Signals. She served as the team leader for India at "Exercise Force 18," the country's biggest foreign military exercise held in 2016. Surprisingly, out of the 18 competing contingents, she was the only female commander.

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Originally from Gujarat, Colonel Qureshi has a masters degree in biochemistry. She is married to a Mechanized Infantry officer and hails from a military background; her grandpa was in the Indian Army.

Additionally, she worked with UN Peacekeeping Operations (PKO) for six years, including a noteworthy period in the United Nations Mission in Congo (2006). She once said that she supported humanitarian initiatives in war areas and kept an eye on ceasefires as part of her peacekeeping responsibilities. Remarking that it was a "proud moment," she urged other female military personnel to "work hard for the country and make everyone proud."

Who is Wing Commander Vyomika Singh?

Wing Commander Vyomika Singh's childhood aspiration served as the impetus for her entry into the Air Force. She had dreamed about flying since school. Her aspirations were further influenced by the meaning of her name, "Vyomika," which translates to “sky.”

In order to achieve her objective, she joined the National Cadet Corps (NCC) and went on to get her engineering degree. She joined the military, becoming the first member of her family to do so. On December 18, 2019, she was granted a permanent commission in the flying branch of the Indian Air Force after being commissioned as a helicopter pilot.

More than 2,500 flight hours have been accrued by Wing Commander Singh. She has flown helicopters such as the Chetak and Cheetah in some of the most difficult environments, such as the Northeast and Jammu & Kashmir.

She was instrumental in several rescue operations. In November 2020, she oversaw a significant mission in Arunachal Pradesh. These missions were carried out in distant areas, high altitudes, and in challenging weather conditions when air assistance is essential to life preservation.

Wing Commander Singh has engaged in high-endurance missions in addition to her operational responsibilities. She participated in a tri-services all-female climbing trip to 21,650-foot Mt. Manirang in 2021.