KARACHI - Sindh Culture and Tourism Minister Sassi Palejo has strongly condemned and contradicted a news item published in The Nation the other day regarding the involvement of her family in the land-grabbing or damaging archaeological sites and necropolis in Makli, district Thatta. In a statement issued on Friday, Sassi said that as a minister she had got approved a master plan for the Makli necropolis. She was also striving to protect historical sites in Sindh and no threat or conspiracy could bring her under pressure from taking steps to protect cultural and historical heritage. The Minister alleged that political rivals of her family were using the media to tarnish her image and that of her family to achieve their vested political interests. She further said: "We fully support freedom of the media but we also regret that a section of the press, including a Sindhi TV channel, was running one-sided stories against her and her family on the instigation of her political rivals. I belong to a family that had always struggled against dictatorship and even women in my family never lagged behind men while offering sacrifices for a noble cause". Palejo said that she had defeated Shirazi brothers in the 2002 elections therefore in the February 18 polls they unleashed a negative and wicked propaganda campaign against her and her family in connivance with some media persons. During the previous regime, Shirazi brothers had indulged in firing against PPP workers, she said, adding that even murder attempts were made against her and her father. Besides, she was implicated in fabricate cases by the former government. The Minister continued that Shirazi brothers ditched the PPP various times in the past and now they wanted to join the party. "The ongoing propaganda against me and my family was part of this malicious campaign that was being carried out in different newspapers, one by one, but the dream of Shirazi brothers of joining PPP will never materialise", she said.