Police move to get online game banned after teen's suicide.

LAHORE -- Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Zulfiqar Hameed has recommended a ban on an online game to save lives, time and future of millions of teenagers.

In a unique initiative, the CCPO took up the matter with the higher authorities through a letter referring to the death by suicide of a teenage boy, who was an ardent player of the game.

He wrote to Inspector General of Punjab Police (IGP) Shoaib Dastagir seeking his help to move a reference to the authorities concerned for a ban on the online game, called Player Unknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG). The authorities could be the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

The action was proposed after 16-year-old Muhammad Zakariya died by suicide in Hanjarwal area of Lahore after he missed accomplishing a mission he was assigned in the game within a stipulated time. He was found hanged with a ceiling fan in his house and his mobile phone was found on his bed with the game running on it.

Referring to the case, CCPO Hameed stated in the letter that it had prompted the Lahore police to start efforts to ban the game to save lives of millions of other children who were addicted to this online game. The boy had recently sat the matriculation exams and used to play PUBG for several hours a day a fact endorsed by his father.

'It is further submitted that PUBG is an online multiplayerbattle royale game that has gained immense popularity among youth,' the CCPO wrote, adding thatit has influenced the youth to the extent that they are becoming violent, risking lives of...