By Kiran Bokhari (Pakdestiny.com) Whose brainchild in Punjab IT Board was behind the video game based on APS massacre. Although its chief Umar Saif has ordered its removal today after an uproar on social media.
“The APS game has been removed. It was in poor taste,” Dr Umar Saif wrote on his Tweeter account. “It wasn’t very well done and it was in poor taste. In
“The APS game has been removed. It was in poor taste,” Dr Umar Saif wrote on his Tweeter account. “It wasn’t very well done and it was in poor taste. In hindsight it was not a good thing to do.”
But there must be someone to share its blame and Mr Saif should come up with the name behind this ‘creative work’.
The game, called “Pakistan Army Retribution”, was released by the Punjab IT board on Google Play, and invites the player to step into the shoes of a soldier shooting extremists in the hallways of a school.
It is inspired by the country’s deadliest ever insurgent attack that saw nine Taliban gunmen storm a school in Peshawar, shooting students and teachers in cold blood and occupying the school for hours until they were killed by the army.
But after an article on Dawn.com criticised the game, social media users lambasted its makers for exploiting the tragedy.
“Bizarre and distasteful,” user Shaheryar Mirza wrote. “Play the APS game on Android, kill the bad guys, empathy and good taste in one go,” wrote Fasi Zaka, referring to the Army Public School that was targeted in the grisly attack.
The Punjab Information Technology Board, a government body aggressively promoting digital innovation in the province, offered a mea culpa on Twitter.
The game was produced by an independent company that had “misunderstood the brief”, Saif said.
“We tried to the use the campaign to galvanise support for peaceful Pakistan but I guess we messed up with this particular game. Thank you for highlighting this mistake. We have made the amends.”
The Punjab IT Board has not earned a good name for this job. Hope it learns from its mistake and use some better brains for any creative work for the future. Pakdestiny
