Can PUBG be banned in Pakistan?

The fate of PlayersUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) has faded in Pakistan as the high court had directed the concerned authorities to ban the popular online game following its negative impacts on the children, ARY News reported.

The directives had been issued by a division bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) headed by Justice Atir Mahmood on May 18 following a petition which stated the PUBG gameplay is severely affecting education and psychological progress of the children.

The Lahore High Court (LHC) had directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on May 18 to decide over banning popular online game – Player Unknown Battlegrounds (PUBG) – in Pakistan within six weeks.

Almost the same complaints and concerned have been raised against PUBG being a popular online game among youth in various countries around the world where teenagers and minors have even lost their lives due to the addictive game.

Read: PUBG banned in another country over ‘negative effects’

According to reports, four countries have banned PUBG Mobile include India, China, Nepal and Iraq, however, the ban was later lifted in India and Nepal.

The petition filed in LHC stated that the players of the online game were now facing psychological problems like lack of decision-making capabilities and social relations, as well as taking them aside from their academic activities and creating violent behaviour.

A legal expert, Advocate Bilal Riaz, told ARY News programme ‘Shan-e-Ramazan’ said, “This game is denting productivity of our children which attracts all individual through its graphics and features.”

Advocate Riaz continued, “As a result, we are witnessing the children as failing to maintain focus on their education, social relations and interaction with parents. These factors are creating psychological challenges for the kids.”

Read: PUBG banned over concerns about its impact on children

“Actually, the [PUBG] gameplay has a duration of at least 40 minutes long for one round without any pause. A player is bound to spend at least 40 minutes for completing its one round. Not a single player wants to lose the game and they attempt to win by playing it again and again.”

“As much as you spend time to play this game, the more problems will be created for the children with include physical and psychological issues besides distancing themselves from their parents, family members and society.”

The legal expert was questioned whether the game is taking the children to adopt violent behaviour.

He affirmed that the addictive players could even take their own lives sometimes under depression. Riaz added that a child in Lahore had committed suicide which led the filing of the petition in the court to save the lives of others.

The lawyer complained that the people will definitely move to the courts when the institutions were not working properly to control the ‘social evils’. Riaz vowed that they will consistently file petitions in the courts to pursue the imposition of a ban on PUBG in order to play their roles for protecting the society.