Bilawal's 'Muslims demonised in India' propaganda called out at UN; journalist points to Col Sofia Qureshi’s lead in Op Sindoor briefing
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and former foreign minister of Pakistan, on Wednesday claimed that “Muslims were being demonised” in India following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.
His remarks came during a press conference at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
However, a foreign journalist present at the press briefing challenged his assertion, referencing India's military communications following Operation Sindoor.
On the false propaganda Muslims are unsafe in India, @BBhuttoZardari is exposed in the US by a foreign journalist.
— GAURAV C SAWANT (@gauravcsawant) June 4, 2025
My bigger concern is that ecosystem in India that pimps such fake narrative...
* Like 'Hindu Terror' narrative that Pak tried to exploit during 26/11 terror attacks. pic.twitter.com/wceImCmRHN
The journalist noted that India’s briefing was conducted by Muslim officers, including Colonel Sofiya Qureshi.
"I have watched briefings on both sides and as far as I recall there were Muslim Indian military officers who are conducting the briefing on the Indian side," the journalist said in a video clip from the conference.
Ahead of the joint briefing by the Director Generals of Military, Air, and Naval Operations, the initial communication on Operation Sindoor was led by Colonel Sofiya Qureshi of the Indian Army’s Corps of Signals and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh of the Indian Air Force, alongside Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri.
Operation Sindoor was a cross-border precision strike launched by India in response to the Pahalgam terror attack, which claimed the lives of 26 civilians. The operation targeted terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Colonel Sofiya Qureshi is a decorated officer from the Corps of Signals and the first woman in the Indian Army to lead a military contingent in a multinational exercise—Exercise Force 18—in March 2016.
For her leadership, she received the Chief of Army Staff Plaque of Honour.
She served as a UN peacekeeping observer in conflict-ridden Congo in 2006, where she risked her life in militia-controlled zones and helped reunite a five-year-old girl with her parents. Her contributions earned her a Force Commander Commendation on UN Day.
She has since been associated with various international platforms, including the UN Women and the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations.
A third-generation Army officer, Colonel Qureshi is currently serving in the Corps of Signals and commands an elite unit in the Indian Army.
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