Lahore:

The leader of a far-right Pakistani party notorious for its sometimes bloody anti-blasphemy agitation has vowed a comeback after its vote share evaporated in last week’s election.

Blasphemy is a hot-button issue in Muslim-majority Pakistan, where the slightest slight against the Prophet Muhammad can embolden lynch mobs.

Saad Hussain Rizvi’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (TLP) emerged as the largest Islamist force in 2018 polls, but it lost ground in last week’s national and provincial elections. The party’s popularity was all but diminished.

Analysts say the death of Rizvi’s charismatic father, the party’s founder, and the loss of the support of Pakistan’s powerful generals have taken a heavy toll.

Addressing supporters in the center of the cultural capital Lahore on Saturday, Rizvi said enemies of Islam had blocked his party.

“This manipulation happens because we talk about rights, we talk about beliefs that are not accepted by powerful people in the world,” he told AFP.

When asked if he could take over from his father Khadim Hussain Rizvi, he responded matter-of-factly.

“Getting people into the streets, getting people out to vote was not an issue for the TLP and it’s not an issue now.”

The 2,000 people who attended his speech were enthusiastic, but a far cry from the tens of thousands he had attended in the past.

“Kadim Rizvi has leadership and charisma that his son does not have,” Arafat Mazar, who has campaigned for reform of blasphemy laws, told AFP.

He added that as Pakistan grapples with a massive economic crisis and an erosion of trust in institutions, religion’s role in elections defined by “anti-establishment politics” has declined.

“We have God”

The TLP’s ideological roots are in Barelvi Islam – a mainstream sect traditionally seen as moderate but with blasphemy as its red line.

It first caused a stir in 2016 during protests against the execution of bodyguard Mumtaz Qadri, who assassinated the Punjab governor for blasphemous stance.

Analysts say the military has clashed with the generals a year after the military used its street power to reduce the electoral base of Nawaz Sharif’s centre-right party.

“There were suspicions at the time that certain individuals within the intelligence agencies were encouraging them to destabilize the government,” public policy analyst Ahmed Bilal said.

“That element may not be there anymore.”

The party went rogue after its electoral success, orchestrating violent anti-Swedish and anti-France protests following incidents of burning Qurans and caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in those countries.

Six years later, Sharif regained support and his successor, Imran Khan, was jailed in the see-saw world of Pakistani politics – reducing the TLP’s effectiveness.

Five years ago, the TLP received more than 2 million votes to become the country’s fifth-largest party, ahead of more established Islamist groups.

However, Thursday’s polls were unsuccessful for all of Pakistan’s religious parties, leading Rizvi to call on supporters to come out in protest on Saturday.

His party had been expected to win more electoral seats, but Magyar said its appeal only existed in times of perceived crisis.

“If there is no imagined threat to the prophet or religion in this country, then when it comes to governance, people don’t want them in power,” he said.

“Only through anxiety-provoking politics will they get votes.”

Rizvi insists they will be back.

“You have the power, we have the God,” he declared from a makeshift stage in the back of his truck.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)