PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Pakistan has “broken the back” of al Qaeda by dismantling its network and arresting hundreds of suspects, a top government official said Saturday. President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, meanwhile, urged Pakistanis to reject extremist elements in the next parliamentary elections and to strengthen democratic institutions.

Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said the remnants of Osama bin Laden’s terror network were on the run.

“Their network is no more in tact. They are scattered and not in a position to even plan attacks,” Sherpao said in this northwestern border city. “The al Qaeda leadership is no more effective.”

His comments came two days after Musharraf said Pakistani security forces had destroyed al Qaeda-linked militants’ “sanctuaries and communication systems” along the border with Afghanistan. However, Musharraf said Pakistan, a key ally of the United States in its war on terrorism, still had no clue about bin Laden’s whereabouts.

On Saturday, Musharraf said he had restored democracy, but some extremist elements were working against the process.

“We need enlightened and moderate leadership, not those extremist elements who think they are more pious,” Musharraf said at a public meeting.

A coalition of six Islamic groups called Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal, or MMA, has said it would launch a protest campaign next month to pressure the president to reduce his powers. Without naming MMA, Musharraf asked people not to vote for such elements in the next elections.

“You should reject those elements who don’t want to see real democracy,” he said.

Pakistan has arrested more than 700 al Qaeda suspects since the Sept. 11 attacks, including top leader Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who was captured near the capital, Islamabad, in March 2003.

Sherpao said Pakistani security agencies had recently arrested more terror suspects, but he gave no details. The majority of the suspects were later handed over to the U.S. officials.

In July 2004, police arrested Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian al Qaeda suspect on the FBI list of most-wanted terrorists for his alleged role in the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in east Africa that killed more than 200 people, in the eastern city of Gujrat.

In March 2002, authorities nabbed Abu Zubaydah, once bin Laden’s top terror coordinator, in Faisalabad.