MARDAN, Aug 3: Chief of the Jamaat-i-Islami Qazi Hussain Ahmad on Monday condemned suicide attacks and other terrorist incidents, saying that only peaceful and democratic means could change the nation's destiny.

He saw a hidden hand behind recent terror strikes and said that some forces wanted to introduce a ban on the right to hold public meetings, using such attacks as a pretext.

He vowed that the religious forces under the banner of the MMA would frustrate these designs through peaceful means. He said this while addressing big public meetings at Takht Bhai and Shergarh Mardan on Monday.

Qazi Hussain said that wiping out Gen Musharraf or Shaukat Aziz was no solution as many others were ready to fill up the gap. He said the stooges of imperialist powers could only be eliminated by depriving them of people's support and that could be done by contacting the masses through peaceful meetings, gatherings, speeches and using the right of expression.

He termed the so-called war on terror a clash of civilizations and added that the West and the US wanted to promote vulgarity among Muslims which, he said, must be resisted at all costs.

He said both the West and the US were making efforts to capture the natural resources of other nations. Iraq, Afghanistan and Sudan were illegally occupied "just to seize their oil and other wealth."

He said the so-called champions of human rights had set new examples of human rights abuses and humiliation in Abu Ghuraib jail and prisons in Afghanistan. He urged people to elect honest and patriotic representatives in the coming local bodies polls.

He said the religious parties like JI, JUI and others would never allow MMA's breakup as people had attached great expectations with this alliance. The day was not far off when this alliance would "wash away the forces of evil from Sindh and Punjab as well", he claimed.

Qazi said none of the MMA government ministers was involved in any corruption and they were serving people sincerely. He alleged that the centre was putting hurdles in the way of Hasba Bill.