Washington - ALsharqiya, July 8: Microsoft announced the end of its direct operations in Pakistan, after nearly a quarter-century of activity in the country, as part of a global restructuring of its operating model.
The company confirmed in a statement to TechCrunch that customer services will continue through authorized partners and nearby regional offices, noting that existing agreements will not be affected by this change. Despite the controversy surrounding the decision, the job impact is limited, affecting only five employees. Microsoft did not have engineering teams in Pakistan and was focused solely on marketing its cloud services such as Azure and Office 365.
The decision is part of a global austerity plan that recently included laying off approximately 9,000 employees, particularly in the gaming division. The company had previously begun moving licensing management to Ireland and outsourcing operational tasks. Commenting on the decision, Jawad Rehman, Microsoft's first country manager for Pakistan, said, "This is not just a business withdrawal, but a worrying sign of an environment in which even large global companies can no longer survive." The withdrawal reflects the challenges facing Pakistan's technology sector, which still lags behind neighbors like India, while local and Chinese companies like Huawei continue to lead the country's technology infrastructure.
