A video game based on the Peshawar Taliban school massacre of more than 150 people, mostly children, was removed Monday after triggering a social media uproar, with critics blasting it as tasteless.
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.
The December 16, 2014, assault shocked Pakistan, already scarred by a decade of attacks, and emotional ceremonies marking the anniversary were held across the country last month.
Social media users lambasted its makers for exploiting the tragedy.
The Punjab Information Technology Board, a government body aggressively promoting digital innovation in the province, offered a mea culpa on Twitter.
“The APS game has been removed. It was in poor taste,” its head Dr Umar Saif wrote.
“Thank you for highlighting this mistake. We have made the amends.”
By Monday afternoon, the game was no longer available on Google Play.