Optics vs. Reality: India presents Muslim military officer while oppressing millions

Colonel Sophia Qureshi fronts Operation Sindoor, but behind the camera, India’s Muslims face growing alienation

Muslims Network TV Desk

New Delhi (MNTV) — In a moment crafted as a show of strength and inclusivity, India fielded Colonel Sophia Qureshi—a Muslim woman officer from the Indian army’s Corps of Signals—to brief the media on the unfolding Operation Sindoor.

The operation refers to Indian military operation launched early Wednesday  amid escalating tensions with Pakistan.

A decorated officer with a groundbreaking military career, Colonel Qureshi became the face of a high-stakes military briefing, as India’s missiles flew and tensions with Pakistan soared.

But beyond the cameras and crisp uniforms lies another India—one in which the country’s 200-million-strong Muslim population often finds itself marginalized, discriminated against, and remembered only in moments of geopolitical necessity or diplomatic choreography.

She hails from Gujarat—a state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The state is not known for military recruitments.

She holds a postgraduate degree in biochemistry. Her grandfather served in the army, and she is married to a fellow officer from the Mechanized Infantry.

Her presence at the briefing was not accidental.

India has long relied on such symbolic gestures to burnish its secular and inclusive image before international audiences—particularly Muslim-majority nations.

From pointing out the presence of Muslims in cricket, cinema, and the civil services, to showcasing officers like Colonel Qureshi, New Delhi repeatedly highlights its Muslim population as a marker of pluralism.

Post abrogation of Article 370, abrogating its autonomy, it was Jamiat e Ulema-e-Hind leader Mualana Mahmood Madani who was sent to defend India at a UN meeting in Geneva.

Experts say that the external image of Muslims that India projects masks a deep and growing domestic exclusion.

While successive Indian governments celebrate Muslims abroad, at home, they are increasingly pushed to the wall.

A recent Oxfam India report and studies by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) show that Indian Muslims fare worse than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in education, employment, and housing.

Muslim representation in the Indian Parliament has steadily declined—from 9.5% in the 1980s to less than 4.8% today.

Their presence in India’s elite institutions is negligible, and their inclusion in officer-level military positions remains abysmally low—estimated at just about 2%.

The army’s own data confirms this underrepresentation. There are less than 2% Muslims in the Indian army.

Yet, during the Kargil War in 1999—fought against Pakistan—more than 30% of Indian soldiers killed were Muslims. The late Defence Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav once claimed that their proportion of Muslims among the dead was as high as 50%.

These numbers reveal an undeniable reality: Muslims serve and sacrifice, but are rarely seen in leadership roles.

Today, the appearance of a Muslim woman officer to front a military operation is being hailed in Indian media as a sign of empowerment. But to many within India’s Muslim community, it’s a reminder of the duality they navigate: included for optics, excluded in substance.

“This is a two-tiered India,” says a senior academic who requested anonymity.

“There is the international India, where the Muslim presence is flaunted to demonstrate democratic health. And then there is the domestic India, where bulldozers raze Muslim homes, students are denied scholarships, and hate speech goes unchecked.”

Indeed, in recent years, Muslims have faced an avalanche of challenges: discriminatory citizenship laws, state-backed demolitions, mass arrests following peaceful protests, and systematic exclusion from government schemes. Even in the realm of security, Indian Muslims are more likely to be profiled than promoted.

The Modi government, which often cites the country’s Muslim population to counter global criticism, has been accused by rights groups of fostering an atmosphere of majoritarianism. In such a context, the public placement of a Muslim officer feels less like inclusion and more like tokenism.

“What’s needed is not just putting up a Muslim face when the world is watching,” says a retired civil servant. “What’s needed is inclusive policy making, equitable opportunity, and justice.”

Colonel Sophia Qureshi’s accomplishments are exceptional and deserving of recognition. But using her image in a moment of war to serve India’s diplomatic messaging does little to address the lived realities of millions of Indian Muslims.

Until representation is matched by rights, and symbolism by substantive change, the image of Colonel Qureshi at a press briefing will remain just that—an image. For a true reflection of diversity, India will need to move beyond optics and ensure its Muslim citizens are no longer invisible, except when they serve its foreign policy agenda.

•   Muslims make up 14.2% of India’s population (approx. 200 million people).
•   Yet they remain one of the most underrepresented communities across sectors.
•   Only ~2% of Indian Army officer cadre is Muslim.
•   During the 1999 Kargil War, Muslims reportedly made up over 30% of casualties.
•    Former Defence Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav once claimed the figure was as high as 50%.
•    In the 1980s, Muslims held 9.5% of seats in Parliament.
•    As of 2024, this number has dropped to below 5%.
•    According to Oxfam India, Muslims score lower on access to education, jobs, and housing than Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs).
•    CSDS data shows increasing educational dropout rates among Muslim youth.
•   Rising instances of bulldozer demolitions, hate crimes, and citizenship discrimination have deepened the sense of alienation.
•   Muslims are routinely under-represented in civil services, judiciary, and media leadership roles.

“In 1945, when the Indian National Congress sought to counter Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s claim of being the sole spokesperson for Indian Muslims, it chose Maulana Abul Kalam Azad to lead its delegation in talks with the British Viceroy. Despite his efforts, Azad remained confined to being the leader of nationalist Muslims, while Jawaharlal Nehru emerged as the leader of all Indians,” notes senior journalist Ghazala Wahab, underlining the symbolic, often sidelined role Muslims played in India’s national narrative.

She further highlights a telling incident from 1949, when K.K.K. Nair, the then district magistrate of Faizabad, allegedly ensured that a Muslim police guard was posted on duty the night idols of Ram Lalla were clandestinely installed inside the Babri Masjid. “The idea was that when the ‘miracle’ was discovered at dawn, the first witness would be a Muslim — lending credence and legitimacy to the act,” Wahab writes, pointing to the calculated use of Muslims for political theatre.

“For decades,” Wahab concludes, “Muslims in India have remained handy tools for political purposes, their presence manipulated symbolically but their significance routinely dismissed.”