Colonel Sofiya Qureshi made news with her briefings on Operation Sindoor, which India initiated after the Pahalgam attack.
Wing Commander Vyomika Singh, Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri gave a news briefing on Wednesday, May 7, after India launched targeted military strikes on terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
In response to the deadly Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22, the Indian Air Force carried out precision airstrikes on nine terrorist facilities, which the three briefed the media on.
Although her ties to Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Karnataka garnered media attention, her link to Pune is now more prominent.
It was in Pune that Colonel Qureshi’s father joined the army and served as Subedar Major. Both Sofiya and her sister Saina were born in Pune.
Who is Colonel Sofiya Qureshi?
According to her cousin, Colonel Sofiya Qureshi was a talented student who attended a government school in the Madhya Pradesh district of Chhatarpur from Class 1 to 3.
Abid Qureshi, the son of her aunt, told PTI Thursday that Colonel Qureshi, whose father and grandfather were in the Indian Army, was accepted into the government school in Nowgong, Chhatarpur, in 1981 and attended until Class 3.
According to Abid, his cousin’s sister was exceptionally brilliant and intelligent from an early age. “After becoming Colonel, she visited Nowgong a couple of times when she was posted in Babina near Jhansi,” he stated.
“Nowgong and Sofia continue to have a close relationship. That’s why Colonel Sofiya usually sends her warmest greetings on January 11, Nowgong’s foundation day,” he continued. Her family owns farms in the state’s Hakimpura and Chitrai villages, which are close to Khajuraho.
“Currently, the house we live in Rangrez locality of Nowgong was given by Sofiya’s father Taj Mohd Qureshi, who took part in the 1971 war, to his sister and our mother Ballo Apa,” he recalled.
Colonel Qureshi’s grandfather Mohammad Hussain Qureshi was also in the army, he said.
“When the military college of Nowgong was shifted to Pune, the family also moved there. It was in Pune that Colonel Qureshi’s father joined the army and served as Subedar Major. Both Sofiya and her sister Saina were born in Pune,” Abid said.
Later, Sofiya and Saina moved to Nowgong with their grandparents and mother and joined the government school in 1981, he said.
After her father’s transfer to Ranchi, the family moved there. Subsequently, they moved to Vadodara after another transfer, where her father eventually retired and settled with the family, according to him.
SC acknowledged her work
This is not the first time that Colonel Qureshi has earned praise. In 2020, the Supreme Court also acknowledged her achievements.
In the February 17, 2020 judgement, in which it ruled in favour of granting Permanent Commission (PC) to women officers in the Indian Army, the top court said, “Lieutenant Colonel Sophia Qureshi (Army Signal Corps) is the first woman to lead an Indian Army contingent at a multi-national military exercise named ‘Exercise Force 18’, which is the largest ever foreign military exercise hosted by India.” “She has served in the United Nations Peacekeeping Operation in Congo in 2006, where she, along with others, was in charge of monitoring ceasefires in those countries and aiding in humanitarian activities. Her job included ensuring peace in the conflict-affected areas,” it had said.
