One turned down opportunities in the United States to serve her nation in uniform. The other scaled Himalayan heights and flew daring rescue missions through storm-laced skies.
On the tense morning of May 7 in New Delhi, as the dust settled over terror camps destroyed deep within enemy territory, two women stood at the podium in front of the national and international press. Colonel Sofiya Qureshi of the Indian Army and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh of the Indian Air Force were not merely delivering a military update on Operation Sindoor, rather were delivering a message to the world that India’s daughters do not just mourn, they lead, command, and retaliate.
This was more than a routine media briefing. It was a defining visual of unity, gender parity, and national resolve. Colonel Qureshi who once served in the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Congo and turned down offers from the US to serve India, and Wing Commander Singh with an engineering background who always dreamed of flying and later scaled the 21,650-ft Mt Manirang as part of an all-women tri-services expedition, stood on stage to brief a daring cross-border retaliation.
During the briefing, their answers were measured, confident, and unmistakably authoritative, owning that room. They were emblematic of a modern India leading with inclusion, courage, and competence on the global stage.
Operation Sindoor
The operation these two officers helped explain to the world was born out of grief, fury, and moral reckoning.
On April 22, 26 Indian tourists were gunned down in cold blood in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. The killers singled out their victims by religion, committing the massacre in front of families. Twenty-five women were widowed. One bride still wore her red wedding chooda when her husband, was killed beside her.
In a poignant move, Prime Minister Narendra Modi named the operation “Sindoor” after the vermilion that married Hindu women wear. An Indian Army poster showed one of the letters in “Sindoor” drawn as a bowl of vermilion, tipped to spill over symbolizing both loss and retribution.
Colonel Qureshi said it clearly, “Operation Sindoor was launched by the Indian armed forces to deliver justice to the victims of the terror attack and their families. Nine terrorist camps were targeted and successfully destroyed.” These strikes, she added, were based on “credible intelligence” and executed with care to avoid civilian casualties.
Colonel Sofiya Qureshi: The woman in command
Born in Vadodara, Colonel Qureshi had always been destined for national service. Her grandfather and father both served in the Army. A bright student, she completed her M.Sc. in Biochemistry at MSU Baroda and originally dreamed of working in science and even joining DRDO under Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. But her calling came from a different uniform.
She joined the Indian Army in 1999, acing her entry on the first attempt. Over the next two decades, she broke barriers repeatedly. In 2006, she served in the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Congo. And in 2016, as a Lieutenant Colonel, she made history by becoming the first Indian woman to lead an Army contingent in a multinational exercise named Exercise FORCE 18 with ASEAN Plus nations.
Back then, General Bipin Rawat had remarked, “She has been chosen not because she is a woman, but because she has the abilities and leadership qualities to shoulder the responsibility.”
In 2025, the colonel stood at that podium representing those very values and abilities honed over years of service, and leadership backed by credibility and courage.
Sofiya Qureshi’s journey from a biochemistry postgrad in Vadodara to a UN peacekeeper, multinational commander, and national spokesperson during wartime is the kind of story that doesn’t just inspire. It strengthens the perceptions of what military leadership looks like.
Wing Commander Vyomika Singh: Daughter of the sky
If Colonel Qureshi commands history and diplomacy, Wing Commander Vyomika Singh commands airspace and urgency.
Her name Vyomika literally means “daughter of the sky.” And true to that name, she has spent over 2,500 hours in flight, piloting Chetak and Cheetah helicopters across the treacherous landscapes of Jammu & Kashmir and the Northeast.
Her defining operational moment came in November 2020, when she led a critical rescue operation in Arunachal Pradesh under impossible weather and terrain conditions. Piloting through low visibility and narrow valleys, Singh and her team pulled civilians to safety — an act that reaffirmed not just her competence, but the essential role of women in frontline military missions.
And she doesn’t stop at flying, she climbs too. In 2021, Singh participated in a tri-services all-women mountaineering expedition to Mt Manirang (21,650 ft). Recognized by the Chief of Air Staff, this feat symbolized the Indian Armed Forces’ commitment to integrating women into elite physical and leadership roles.
A product of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) and a trained engineer, she is the first in her family to join the Armed Forces. In 2019, she earned a permanent commission in the IAF’s flying branch — a milestone for any pilot, doubly so for a woman in a previously male-dominated stream.
What they represent beyond the briefing
In a year defined by escalating tensions and shifting geopolitical alignments, the image of Col. Qureshi and Wing Commander Singh briefing the world stood out not only for its composition but for its conviction.
A Muslim woman in olive green and a Hindu woman in blue — one who kept the peace in Congo, another who saved lives in Arunachal speaking in unison about justice and retribution.
This wasn’t performative parity. It was operational integration of genders, of services, and of India’s past, present, and future.
Social media called it “picture-perfect messaging.” But it was more than a picture. It was the embodiment of the very unity the Pahalgam attackers tried to shatter. And it worked. As one user wrote: “They just ended up uniting us even more.”
When leadership wears no label but earns all respect
Colonel Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh are not outliers; they are the leading edge. Their calm under pressure, legacy of service, and lived example of unity offer India and the world a template for what leadership looks like in the 21st century.
One delivered justice with maps and memory. One flew through mist and mission. Together, they stood for something bigger than the operation itself, giving away the idea that when women lead, nations listen and sometimes even enemies shudder.
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