SUKKUR, Sept 30: The secretary-general of the Pakistan People’s Party, Sindh, Nafees Siddiqi, has termed the recent visit of President Gen Pervez Musharraf to the US a failure.

He was addressing a press conference here on Friday.

He said that the president had made objectionable remarks against women during the visit to hide his failure as the head of state.

Women had always played an important role in the promotion of democracy in Pakistan. Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah stood up against Gen Ayub Khan while Benazir Bhutto opposed the dictatorship of Gen Zia-ul-Haq and Gen Musharraf, he said.

He said that former Indian Prime Minister Narsimha Rao was convicted by a court but no politician in India passed remarks against him. But Gen Musharraf had been continuously passing remarks against politicians, he said.

Mr Siddiqi said it was important to hold fresh elections in the country as parliament had failed completely.

The elections should be held under an independent election commission, he said.