The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday disposed of a petition against a ban on the PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) – an online multiplayer “battle royale” game – as it asked the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s (PTA) to issue a written order in this regard as per law.
The PTA – the country’s telecommunications and internet regulator – suspended PUBG on July 1 after "receiving complaints from different segments of the society".
“The PTA has received numerous complaints against the PUBG wherein it is stated that the game is addictive, wastage of time and poses serious negative impact on physical and psychological health of the children," a statement of the authority had said.
It had claimed that suicides have also been attributed to the game in media reports. "Honourable Lahore High Court has also directed the PTA to look into the issue and decide the matter after hearing the complainants. In this regard, a hearing is being conducted on 9th of July 2020," it said.
A petitioner moved the IHC against the ban on Jun 4 demanding that PTA’s decision be quashed.
The petitioner said he had won the PUBG tournament in Pakistan and was to join the PUBG World League on July 10. He dismissed the PTA’s reasoning behind the ban and contended that electronic sports are the largest growing industry in the world, and the PUBG is a way to earn money online.
Taking up the petition on Monday, an IHC single-bench headed by Justice Aamer Farooq asked the PTA counsel as to why it decided to suspend the game. The counsel said the Punjab Police had written a letter to the PTA and mentioned the suicides committed by PUBG players.
“We have also received complaints from parents requesting us to impose a ban on the game,” he said.
The judge noted that if the PTA wanted to impose a ban on the game, it must mention the laws under which the game must be banned. He later ordered the regulator to issue a written order on it according to the law.
The PTA told the court that the authority will issue its order on June 8 after hearing the petitioner.
COMMENTS (10)
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Why not not ban those people(children), whose families are complaining. PTA can just ban their ip adress for logging into the game or just advice the families not to allow smartphones to their childrens
#unban pubg mobile
Please please please #unban PUBG mobile.It is a source to earn money during this lockdown we earn money because ofor this game so please unban PUBG mobile in pakistan.
#unbanPUBG
First o fall i would like to discuss the topic suciade due to pubg. So , with due respect i would like to say that due to studies also thousands of students get in depress or even suciade. So ., government should also ban institutes and other academies. Due to vehicles explosions and accidents also ,thousands of innocent people get injured or even die. So government should also ban vehicles. If you are banning pubg and taking yourself as a wise man then dont forget . You should also ban vehicles and institutes but NO ! Why ? Secondly, With due respect i would like to discuss the positive effects of pubg which were not found in a child before. 1. Flying kites (outdoorgame) Pubg is a mobile game which has stopped kite flying game . As many of people get killed or get injured just because of flying kites . But due to pubg flying kites have been stopped. If 1% of people got negetive effects of pubg than 55% of people died due to flying kites . Pubg has just stopped it. 2. Pubg makes a man energetic , active and kills laziness in a person . I think so just this would be enough for the PTA government and Islamabad high court to unban pubg. With due respect, #UnBannPubg #WeAllLovePubg #BeWithPubg #SupportPubg #PTAgovernment #UnBannPubg Regards, A true pubg lover X.X.X
On an average I would say every third house has a young(under 16) addict of this game.The addicts are cutoff from the normal world and will pay any price to play the game.The level of addiction is frightening. Excellent move from PTA
These guys are destroying our careers which were based on this esports. It isn't only a game but a sports. Our Pakistani players were about to represent Pakistan in this world league. Team Name FREESTYLE but unfortunately by some pathetic decision they banned PUBG. Almost 70% of our pakistani players earn from it and they earn much better than a 9 to 7 Employee at JOB. PTA's decision has represented Pakistan 🇵🇰 in extremely wrong way due to some sick people, sick parents, sick lawyers who don't even know anything about technology and esports. Even though it is mentioned that this game is 16+ still the parents can't check and balance their children. And none of the forensic reports of the suicide of children say that they did it because of PUBG. There is nowhere mentioned that it happened because of PUBG. Few Spnosor like Dew and Redbull came to Pakistan just to sponsor our Pakistani Players for getting into esports and it is the best opportunity to represent Pakistan in a good way. It is nothing harmful in it. I don't know why they banned PUBG and it was totally one sided decision. They should once listen to an esports player. But hope so they'll get to know soon that this was the bestest opportunity to represent Pakistan in good words and UNBAN PUBG. #UNBANPUBG
#unbanpubg