Burhan battles it out with PM in video game
SRINAGAR: Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani may have been killed by security forces in July but he appears to have been resurrected in the form of a wildly popular video game in Kashmir.
The Android-based mobile phone game called ‘Burhan Vs Modi’ is a rage among youngsters in the Valley. In the game, the user dons Wani’s character to take on figures resembling Prime Minister Narendra Modi to win points and advance.
The goal of the game appears to be “azaadi” (freedom) as the user shoots, kicks and punches to eliminate the Modi-like characters to gain points. Songs with pro-Azaadi lyrics play in the background. The game has six stages with ten levels each.
Local residents say the game — seen now on almost every youth’s phone — indicates the popularity of Wani, whose death sparked widespread clashes with police. The violence has killed at least 90 people with more than 10,000 injured and a shutdown across the Valley for over three months.
The developers of the game remain anonymous but when the game begins, photos of two Kashmiri youngsters come up with a caption that reads ‘creator of the game’. Also, in the credit section of the game, a certain individual is named.
“Yes, the game has come to our notice and we are investigating it. The name of a certain man comes in the credit section and we have narrowed down on him. He is from south Kashmir,” said a senior officer of the police cyber cell. The game isn’t available on Google Play Store from where most games and apps are downloaded by Android users.
But when one types ‘Burhan’ in the search slot of the app store, the first option in the automatic drop down list is ‘Burhan vs Modi game’. Experts say it indicates that the game has been searched for numerous times by different users.
Police say they think the game isn’t original but was developed by locals who superimposed Wani and Modi’s image on the characters of an existing action game.
Teenagers in Srinagar, who have the game on their mobile, say they got it from their friends’ phones through file sharing applications such as Share It, which does not need an internet connection to work.