Fawad calls to unban PUBG, says such attitude is ‘killing tech industry’

Opposing the ban on online game PUBG, Federal Minister for Science and Technology Chaudhry Fawad Hussain has said that such moves can ‘kill’ the tech industry of Pakistan.

In a tweet, the federal minister urged the IT minister Syed Amin ul Haque to take note of this ban, adding that the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) will be instructed not to encourage such bans “as it hinders tech growth in the long run.”

On July 1, the online game was temporarily suspended. In a statement, PTA said that it had received several complaints about the game being addictive and its potential negative impact on children's physical and psychological health.

A teenage boy in Hanjarwal, Punjab committed suicide after his parents stopped him from playing the game. Another case emerged in Lahore where a 20-year-old boy took his own life.

PUBG is a survival game in which players are dropped onto an island to battle it out against others. Players from all over the world compete against each other or in teams. They attack and kill each other in the game and the more you win, the higher you rank. It has garnered more than 34 million downloads worldwide so far.