Bhubaneswar, May 7 -- https://images.odishatv.in/uploadimage/library/16_9/16_9_0/recent_photo_1746622414.webp

As Colonel Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh flanked Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on Wednesday morning during the briefing about Operation Sindoor, creating a striking image, her family in Gujarat beamed with pride.

Col Sofiya, who hails from Vadodara city, had quit Ph.D and a teaching career to become an Army officer, they said. Her parents and brother Mohammad Sanjay Qureshi live in the Tandalja area of the city.

Talking to reporters at their home, Sanjay said Col Sofiya was on the verge of finishing her PhD when she decided to look beyond the classroom setting and don the olive-green uniform of the Indian Army....