Punjab govt asked to ban PUBG after quadruple murder

The Punjab Police on Wednesday urged the provincial government to impose a ban forthwith on the online game PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) nearly two weeks after the quadruple murder of a family at the hands of a teenager in Lahore shocked the nation.

Last month, police arrested an 18-year-old "PUBG addict" from Lahore after he allegedly shot dead his mother, sister and brother while they were asleep.

Police officials had claimed that the teenager had taken the extreme step after being addicted to playing the online game. The suspect got depressed by repeatedly losing in the online game and being scolded by his mother for excessive indulgence.

“Repeated defeats in the game (PUBG) increased my stress and I fired shots thinking that everyone will come back to life like in the game,” the suspect was quoted as saying to the police.

Read more: Ban sought on PUBG after teen guns down mother, siblings

"The quadruple murder of a family cannot be conveniently adjudged as a plain-text crime," the AIG Operations wrote in a letter to Additional Chief Secretary Home dispatched today.

"This violent crime is linked with isolationist tendencies associated with the addiction of the multiplayer game," he added.

The official pointed out that the "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”.

To substantiate his proposition further, the AIG police said, "It is evident that obsessive indulgence of youth in online violent games like PUBG and Formite is introducing into young minds of the players a sense of comfort with violence leading to criminal tendencies."

He stressed that "violent games, especially, PUBG, need to be banned by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority. A failure [to do so] or a delay in imposing the ban may aggravate violence and crime in the society”.

Also read: LHC dismisses petition seeking ban on PUBG

On Monday, the Lahore High Court dismissed a plea seeking ban on PUBG as neither the petitioner nor his counsel appeared before the court to pursue the case.

The petition was filed by a citizen Tanveer Sarwar following an increase in the killing incidents allegedly linked to the game.