New Delhi:
India’s briefing on ‘Operation Sindoor’ today gave a strong and significant message as two women officers – Wing Commander Vyomika Singh and Colonel Sofiya Qureshi – led it, shedding light on the April 22 Pahalagam terror attack in which 26 people died.
The choice of women officers co-leading the briefing is seen to be a powerful move as it reflects a mark of strength and sacrifice. It is also symbolic to India’s anti-terror operation ‘Sindoor’ – as a way of honouring those women widowed after terrorists killed men in the Pahalgam attack.
“Terror targets were chosen based on credible intelligence and their involvement in cross-border terrorism. No military installation was targeted in Pakistan during ‘Operation Sindoor’,” Colonel Sofiya Qureshi said during her address.
She also announced that nine terrorist camps were destroyed.
Wing Commander Vyomika Singh said, “India is ready to deal with any misadventure by Pakistan.”
Who are Wing Commander Vyomika Singh and Colonel Sofiya Qureshi?
Wing Commander Vyomika Singh is a distinguished helicopter pilot in the Indian Air Force. She joined the National Cadet Corps (NCC) and later completed her engineering studies. Wing Commander Singh received a permanent commission in the flying branch on December 18, 2019.
Colonel Sophia Qureshi is a decorated officer of the Indian Army’s Corps of Signals. She is the first woman officer to lead an Indian Army contingent in a multinational military exercise – one of the largest foreign military exercises ever conducted on Indian soil.
India’s ‘Operation Sindoor’
India carried out 24 missile strikes across nine locations – Muzaffarabad, Kotli, Bahawalpur, Rawalakot, Chakswari, Bhimber, Neelum Valley, Jhelum, and Chakwa – in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, killing 70 terrorists and injuring another 60, to avenge the Pahalgam terror attack under ‘Operation Sindoor’. According to government sources, the attack was more than a military response.
“It was a statement of strategic resolve. Through 24 precisely coordinated missile strikes across nine terrorist-linked locations, India demonstrated that it would no longer tolerate cross-border terrorism, nor the complicity of state institutions that enable it,” a source said.
The attack began at 1.05 am Wednesday, May 6, and lasted just 25 minutes. During this time, nine terror camps and training facilities were targeted with stand-off munitions like the HAMMER bomb and the SCALP missile, as well as others that can hover over an area to confirm its target before detonating. According to the government, the attacks were synchronised to avoid detection and maximise damage.
India’s military response represented a “measured, non-escalatory, proportionate, and responsible” answer to Pakistan’s support of cross-border terrorism, the government said.
Pakistan, in response, resorted to ‘arbitrary and indiscriminate firing’ and artillery shelling across the LoC, killing 10 civilians in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch sector. Those killed include a 12-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy, the Army said.
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