Chaudhry Fawad Hussain has been persistently working towards the growth of the technology industry. The Federal Minister of Science and Technology recently opposed the ban on the video game PUBG, citing the reasons why he is against such steps. “PTA should not ban the game called PUBG. I am personally against such bans,” he tweeted earlier. He added that Pakistan cannot afford sanctions of this kind and that such an attitude was “tantamount to killing the technology industry”. He hoped that the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) would be instructed not to encourage such prohibitions in the future because it would hinder technology development in the long run.
اگر آپ کو پڑھنے سےدلچسپی نہیں اور فون پر ویڈیو گیمز سےرغبت ہے تو تیاری رکھیں @MinistryofST ویڈیو گیمز پروگرامنگ کا خصوصی پروگرام لارہی ہے تا کہ ہم 90 ارب ڈالر کی اس انڈسٹری کاحصہ بن سکیں، Animation اور ویڈیو گیمز سرٹیفیکیشن پروگرام نوجوانوں کیلئے Game ہی نہیں Game Changer ہوں گے
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) November 24, 2020
Taking to the micro-blogging site Twitter today, Fawad made another announcement. His post – written in Urdu – loosely translates to, “If you are not interested in studying and are interested in video games, be prepared. The Ministry of ST is bringing a one-of-a-kind programme for video game programming so that we can be a part of this 90 Arab Dollar industry. Animation and video games certification programme will not only be a game for the youth but a game-changer too.”
Earlier in October, Fawad had announced Pakistan’s first OTT network. “We at the Ministry of Science and Technology are all set to launch Pakistan’s first OTT TV (Pak version of #Netflix),” he wrote at the time, adding that the technical part of the project had already been covered and complete. “Have asked PEMRA to prepare a guideline on content and we will be all set to launch in PPP mode, it’ll be just another humble contribution,” he added. Fawad had expressed that he is hopeful that the platform will be functional soon, providing a space for local visionaries. The need for a local OTT platform has been highlighted more in recent months after several Pakistani originals were picked up by Indian streaming platforms such as Zee5.
