Islamabad: The Blue Whale Challenge, which has been linked to the death of at least 130 teenagers across the globe, is now creating panic in Pakistan.
Reports confirm that Pakistani children have started falling prey to the game, causing panic among parents.
At least two young men in Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province have already tried the deadly “game”, according to reports.
The Express Tribune newspaper quoted Dr Imran Khan, a psychiatrist at Peshawar’s Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH), as saying the two young men, aged between 19 and 20, had approached him for a cure after suffering from depression while trying to complete the ‘Blue Whale Challenge’.
The two started to play the game for fun but, as the ‘challenge’ progressed, the tasks became bizarre — including carving a whale into their arm.
These painful challenges prompted them to stop and seek medical help, according to Dr Khan.
“People start suffering from depression because game moderators warn the players that if they don’t complete the assigned tasks, their families would be harmed,” Dr Khan said.
The two victims belonged to Mardan and Dera Ismail Khan Districts of KPK. Dr Khan also informed about a girl victim of the challenge who ‘was so depressed that she attempted to commit suicide.’”
Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has issued a warning for people to keep an eye out for vulnerable young people getting attracted to the Blue Whale challenge.
Although no suicides linked to the Blue Whale challenge have been reported in Pakistan, the news has triggered anxiety among parents.
“Children using mobile phones at home are not even safe. This is absolutely horrifying! I will now be more alert when my kids use the internet” said Mariam Khan, a mother of two.
“Parents should be more vigilant and keep an eye on their children while they are using internet,” advised Dr Aysha Saeed, head of sociology department at Quaid-e-Azam Universty.
Besides families, educational institutions can play a key role in curbing this threat by engaging in extra-curricular activities to improve their mental and physical health, Dr. Aisha said.
IT experts have urged the public to stay away from the challenge and not click any suspicious links received on WhatsApp groups or other private social media groups. “Whoever clicks on the link, the game gets downloaded on their device and if they log in, their phone data gets hacked by the game administrator,” computer expert Kashif Ali warned.
Dr Sheraz, Head of Computer Science Department at Federal Urdu University, urged Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and the Cyber Crime Control Wing of FIA Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to take precautionary steps to counter these threats and ban the circulation of such links.
The Blue Whale game is an online 50-day challenge in which the players have to perform a set of tasks. As the game progresses the tasks become more vicious. Some of the tasks were reported to be carving a whale on your arm, watching horror videos, cutting your lip and ultimately pushing people to the edge of suicide. The game originated in Russia back in 2013 and Philip Budekin, a 21 year old Russian, is the alleged mastermind behind it.
The game has claimed some 150 lives globally with deaths of teenagers reported in Russia, India, China, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Argentina, Bulgaria and Italy.
