Indian Army Colonel Sophia Qureshi and Indian Air Force Wing Commander Vyomika Singh, although senior in their ranks, may not under normal circumstances become the most public faces of the armed forces in a war-like situation. That too as a sharply calibrated riposte to the machinations of a hostile neighbor, namely Pakistan.

However, that is exactly whom the Indian government chose to lead the media briefing over its military strikes on nine sites in Pakistan flanking Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri. The fact that Qureshi is a Muslim and Singh a Hindu could not have been accidental. It clearly seemed like a deliberate strategy to have them announce the details of the strikes in the face of Pakistan’s frequent attempts to drive a wedge between various communities in India, especially between Muslims and Hindus.

The symbolism it presented was particularly striking in the context of the recent well-publicised statement of Pakistan Army Chief Asm Munir who told a conclave of overseas Pakistanis that Hindus and Muslims were different in  "every possible aspect of life,” adding tellingly. “Our religions are different, our customs are different, our traditions are different, our thoughts are different, our ambitions are different. That was the foundation of the two-nation theory that was laid there. We are two nations, we are not one nation.”

Both Qureshi and Singh are highly accomplished officers in their own right and emblematic of the deeply non-denominational and secular tradition of the Indian armed forces. Their presence under the media glare within hours of the military strikes was as much a message to Pakistan as it was to the world.

Accomplished officers

Indian media reports say that Colonel Qureshi, who holds a postgraduate degree in biochemistry, is a highly decorated officer in the Indian Army’s Corps of Signals. She was born in Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state, in a family that has served the armed forces. Her grandfather was in the army. Her husband Tajuddin Qureshi is a major in the mechanized infantry. She has also served as a military observer in the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in the Congo in 2006 apart from having been a part of many counter insurgency operations earning commendations. She led an Indian Army contingent during a multinational military exercise named Exercise Force 18 and was the first woman to lead such an exercise in 2016.

Wing Commander Singh is a helicopter pilot in the Indian Air Force who holds a degree in engineering. She has logged more than 2500 flying hours on the Chetak and Cheetah helicopters over the challenging skies of Jammu and Kashmir. She is a first-generation military officer who wanted to pursue that career from her childhood. Singh has also carried out several rescue missions, one of which was in Arunachal Pradesh in 2020. Those missions tested her piloting skills coming as they did at high altitudes and remote areas amid tough weather conditions.

Art of messaging

For the Modi government generally and the prime minister particularly, who has mastered the art of messaging and social media optics, deploying the two women is widely seen as a smart symbolism. Their gender and religions, incidental in the context of the armed forces, carried a strong message for Pakistan and the rest of the world.

It is conceivable that for the duration of the current operation the two will continue to lead the media briefing, particularly when their first outing has made such a widespread impact.

(The writer is a Chicago-based Indian journalist, author and filmmaker. Views expressed are personal. He can be reached at mcsix@outlook.com)