KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah said on Tuesday that he was saddened by the deaths of children in Tharparkar, but he believed that the whole situation was being exaggerated.

Speaking at an oath-taking ceremony of the Malir Bar Association, Mr Shah tried to defend his cabinet and focused on the political matters pertaining to the federal government.

He wondered how the government could know about each and every child in the desert area, where the communication system was not so good, and claimed that deaths of children being reported in Tharparkar was largely on account of maternity-related complications and not from hunger or lack of food.

If there was drought and lack of healthcare facilities, then men and women would also have suffered equally, he said, adding that this was injustice to hold his government responsible for a thing that was not even prevailing.

The senior puisne judge of the Sindh High Court Justice, Ahmed Ali Sheikh, administered the oath of office to the recently elected cabinet of the MBA.

Meanwhile, four more children died from various diseases in different areas of Thar on Tuesday, taking the toll within the past 12 days to 45, our Mithi correspondent adds.

An infant, Sher Mohammad, died in Badal Junejo village, and two newborns, Kheto and the daughter of Jai Ram yet to be named, died in a village near Kaloi town while a two-year-old girl, Tadoori, daughter of Bilawal Junejo, died at the Mithi Civil Hospital.

Published in Dawn, January 13th, 2016