Police in Punjab seek ‘complete ban’ on PUBG game after quadruple murder in Lahore 

ISLAMABAD: Police in Pakistan’s largest province of Punjab have requested the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to impose a “complete ban” on the popular application PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) after the recent quadruple murder of a family by a teenager in Lahore was tied to the online game.
Teenager Ali Zain is accused of shooting dead his mother, two sisters and a brother on January 19. Police say he told investigators during questioning the game had driven him to violence. Zain was also quoted by investigators as saying he was depressed from losing constantly and fired shots under stress “thinking that everyone will come back to life like in the game.”
“The quadruple murder of a family in Lahore on 19.01.2022 cannot be conveniently adjudged as a plain-text crime,” the Central Police Office Punjab wrote in a letter to the provincial government this week.
“This violent crime is linked with isolationist tendencies associated with the addiction of the multiplayer online game name PUBG,” the letter said, adding: “Failure in PUBG duels online prompted a teenager to perpetrate the appalling four murders in the area of Kahna in Lahore, preying upon his own mother and siblings.”
Police therefore requested the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority “to impose complete ban on violent games like PUBG.”
“It is evident that obsessive indulgence of youth in online violent games like PUBG and Fortnite is introducing into young minds of the players a sense of comfort with violence leading to criminal tendencies,” police said.
Pakistan banned PUBG in July 2020 after the country’s telecom regulator said it had received numerous complaints the game affects the “physical and mental health” of players.
“The game is highly addictive, destroying the youth, a wastage of time and has a negative impact on physical and psychological health,” the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said at the time.
However, the ban was lifted the same month on the orders of the Islamabad High Court.