The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday ordered the Sindh government to form a committee to look into the deaths of children caused by malnutrition in Thar.

The committee is to submit its report in three weeks, the court said.

A three-member SC bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar, was hearing a case regarding the deaths of children due to malnutrition in Thar.

The advocate general (AG) of Sindh told the bench that the government had provided wheat and other food and grains to the people in Thar. He further said that rice and lentils were being provided to "Hindu residents as they did not consume wheat".

He declared that the basic problem in the region was the lack of food and water in the region and added that around 60,000 people in Thar live below poverty line. The AG also pointed out that women received less food.

The CJP decried the situation, saying that the provincial government must ensure that the people of Thar are provided with healthy food and clean drinking water as well as access to medical facilities. He urged PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari to "spend their money on these regions".

He lamented that infants in Thar were dying due to lack of nutrition and said that the crisis needed to be resolved urgently.

The PPP government has recently come under fire for the dire shortage of food and clean drinking water in Thar despite being in power in the province for over a decade. On Wednesday, Qaumi Awami Tehreek chief Ayaz Latif Palijo accused the PPP of supplying rotten wheat to Thar residents.

He said that the ruling party had insulted the poor people living in the region by treating them like "children of lesser gods".