Prime Minister's Special Assistant on Digital Pakistan Tania Aidrus was reportedly sacked from her post in an unceremonious manner on Wednesday. Aidrus's departure further slashes women's representation in the male dominated government of the PTI.
With Tania Aidrus gone, the number of women in the federal cabinet has reduced to just four, while its total strength is over 40.
Though Tania Aidrus claimed she resigned because of the criticism levied on the state [government] because of her dual citizenship status, a report by Profit claimed that SAPM was asked to resign by PM's principal secretary and SAPM Shehzad Akbar in an unflattering manner.
According to the report, she was not allowed to speak to the premier when she protested the move and was told that the resignation was not optional.
There are multiple reasons for Aidrus's departure, and the possibility of her gender being a factor cannot be ruled out. woman. In an article, Dawn Resident Editor Fahd Hussain quoted an official, saying in Pakistani society, men are not 'used to working with such driven women'. The rift between Aidrus and Shabahat Ali Shah, who heads the National IT Board (NITB), for the IT turf was well known. Apparently, Shah was 'unhappy' with Aidrus taking over his turf.
So after the removal of her benefactor Jahangir Tareen from the picture, it was easy for Prime Minister Imran Khan to let go of Tania Aidrus than Shah.
This is not the first time that men had a problem with Aidrus. In March, she tweeted about the her team's efforts to contain coronavirus via technology. However, her tweet was met by snobbish comments by two journalists, who played down her efforts.
Former journalist Cyril Almeida ridiculed her project, saying 'send me a DM... when techies start playing govt'. While another journalist called her efforts to deal with Covid-19 as a joke.
With Tania Aidrus gone, the number of women in the federal cabinet has reduced to just four, while its total strength is over 40.
Though Tania Aidrus claimed she resigned because of the criticism levied on the state [government] because of her dual citizenship status, a report by Profit claimed that SAPM was asked to resign by PM's principal secretary and SAPM Shehzad Akbar in an unflattering manner.
According to the report, she was not allowed to speak to the premier when she protested the move and was told that the resignation was not optional.
There are multiple reasons for Aidrus's departure, and the possibility of her gender being a factor cannot be ruled out. woman. In an article, Dawn Resident Editor Fahd Hussain quoted an official, saying in Pakistani society, men are not 'used to working with such driven women'. The rift between Aidrus and Shabahat Ali Shah, who heads the National IT Board (NITB), for the IT turf was well known. Apparently, Shah was 'unhappy' with Aidrus taking over his turf.
So after the removal of her benefactor Jahangir Tareen from the picture, it was easy for Prime Minister Imran Khan to let go of Tania Aidrus than Shah.
This is not the first time that men had a problem with Aidrus. In March, she tweeted about the her team's efforts to contain coronavirus via technology. However, her tweet was met by snobbish comments by two journalists, who played down her efforts.
Been here for the last 3 days, helping figure out how #DigitalPakistan can help address #coronavirus. We have created a war room where technology volunteers can collaborate with @zfrmrza and team pic.twitter.com/FC8pFxYVjZ
— Tania Aidrus (@taidrus) March 15, 2020
Former journalist Cyril Almeida ridiculed her project, saying 'send me a DM... when techies start playing govt'. While another journalist called her efforts to deal with Covid-19 as a joke.
Send me a DM... when techies start playing govt... https://t.co/k9nNXJr9jo
— cyril almeida (@cyalm) March 15, 2020
Is she for real? What a joke with the hapless people of this country - fighting coronavirus with a couple of laptops and takeaways pic.twitter.com/9oVveVGEZ6
— omar r quraishi (@omar_quraishi) March 15, 2020