WASHINGTON, Nov 3: During her recent visit to Washington, the PPP leader and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto apparently failed to convince the US administration to abandon the military government in Pakistan and support democratic forces instead.

PPP sources told Dawn that after these “not successful” meetings in Washington, Ms Bhutto decided to support ARD’s move to back Maulana Fazlur Rahman.

On Sunday, Nawabzada Nasrullah told reporters in Islamabad that his Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy, which includes Pakistan People’s Party, would back the MMA candidate for prime minister.

PPP sources said that the decision to back ARD’s move was taken after Pakistan’s military rulers refused to accept PPP’s demands for joining a government of national consensus.

The sources said that the PPP had asked the military regime to withdraw all cases against Ms Bhutto and Asif Zardari, allow her to return home safely, and withdraw controversial constitution changes if it wanted the party to support the future political setup.

PPP sources said that the proposal for forming such a government had come from President Pervez Musharraf and his colleagues who wanted PPP’s parliamentary leader Makhdoom Amin Fahim to head the new setup as prime minister.

After the government’s refusal to accept these demands, Ms Bhutto travelled to Washington where she met Assistant Secretary of State Christina Rocca and a senior official of the National Security Council at the White House.

Confirming these meetings, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Ms Bhutto “discussed developments in Pakistan and in the region” with the US officials.

“We’ve had regular meetings with Pakistani opposition leaders, including Ms Bhutto, in order to stay in contact with all the significant political leaders of this country,” he said.