Sofiya Qureshi

Colonel Sofiya Qureshi is a distinguished officer in the Indian Army's Signals Corps. Col Quraishi, one of the two women officers who briefed the media after India’s execution of Operation Sindoor on May 7, 2025. The operation was launched in direct response to the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, located in the Anantnag district of Jammu & Kashmir, which tragically claimed the lives of 25 Indian citizens and one Nepali national.

Col Qureshi, commissioned into the Indian Army in 1999, has served with distinction for over three decades, holding various significant roles. In 2006, during the Congo peacemaking mission she represented India with a lot of pride at the world stage. In 2016, she became the first woman officer at the age of 35, to lead an Indian Army contingent in a large multinational military exercise. During the concluding ceremony of the 2016 multinational exercise, when she was asked how she felt about leading the contingent, she said, “I feel proud, of course.” And her message to other young women in the armed forces was, “Work hard for the country and make everyone proud.”

Col Qureshi, born in Gujarat, comes from a family with deep military roots—her grandfather served in the Indian Army. Col Qureshi has a strong academic foundation in military strategy and technology. She began her formal military education with the Technical Staff Officers Course at the Military College of Telecommunication Engineering, Mhow in 1999. She later attended the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, where she earned a Master’s degree in Defence and Strategic Studies during 2005–06. In 2013, she completed the Higher Command Course at the Army War College, Mhow, further honing her leadership and operational planning skills. In 2018, she specialized in Strategic Cybersecurity at the prestigious National Defence College, New Delhi, reflecting her deep engagement with emerging domains in national security.

BOOM has debunked misinformation around Qureshi in May 2025, BOOM fact-checked a viral video of Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, in which she can be heard saying, "I am Muslim, but not Pakistani. I'm a Muslim, but not a terrorist. BOOM analysed the video and found strong evidence of artificial intelligence-aided manipulation in the videos, the same further confirmed through various deepfake detection tools.

In addition to the video, BOOM also fact-checked a viral X (formerly Twitter) account that falsely claimed to represent Col Sofiya Qureshi. The account had gained traction after sharing posts related to Operation Sindoor, and was even seen interacting with an account claiming to belong to Wing Commander C. Vyomika Singh, who had joined Col Qureshi in the joint media briefings alongside the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). BOOM has confirmation from the Indian army that the account does not belong to Colonel Qureshi.