THATTA, July 25 Sindh Minister for Culture Sassui Palijo has accused a federal minister of branding her an 'extremist nationalist' and asking the prime minister to get her removed from the provincial cabinet.

Talking to journalists here on Sunday, she said that she belonged to Sindh and would continue to fight for its rights. Her ministry would be of no use if she failed to raise voice for the legitimate rights of her land and her province, she said.

She criticised what she termed illegal and unlawful opening of Chashma-Jhelum link canal and said that water experts and water council authorities in Punjab were issuing misleading and controversial statements.

She said she was accountable to the people who had voted for her. She was a patriotic Pakistani and did not need a certificate from anyone to prove her loyalty to the country, she added.

Ms Palijo said that the people who supported Kalabagh Dam and CJ canal were in fact behind the conspiracies hatched against the federation.

She said that she had complained to the prime minister against the former acting chairman of Irsa, Shafqat Masood, and urged him to take stern action against him.

She said that the Irsa authorities should stop playing with the sentiments of the people of Sindh and should visit tail-end areas of Keti Bandar and Shah Bandar coastal areas to have an idea of people's plight.

She said that Zulfiqarabad was a project envisioned by President Asif Ali Zardari. She also said that Dolha Darya Khan Park, Arts Council and Open Theatre in Thatta would soon be completed.