Imran Khan, Pakistan’s Ex-Leader, Is Barred From Office

Pakistan’s election commission on Friday disqualified former Prime Minister Imran Khan from completing his current term in Parliament, escalating the political showdown between the country’s ruling establishment and its former leader and raising the possibility of mass unrest.

The commission found him guilty of illegally selling gifts given to him by other countries when he was prime minister and concealing the profits from the authorities, according to Azam Nazeer Tarar, the country’s justice minister. Mr. Khan, who would otherwise hold a seat in Parliament until next August, denies the accusations.

The move is the second time in five years that the leader of a major Pakistani political bloc has been effectively barred from politics over corruption charges after a falling out with the military. The country’s generals are widely considered to be the invisible hand guiding Pakistani politics, and they also directly ruled Pakistan for more than half of its 75-year history.

Since his ouster in the spring, Mr. Khan proved to be a powerful political force who had eluded the military establishment’s typical script for sidelining politicians, and whose cause has deeply resonated among Pakistanis disillusioned with the country’s political upheaval and economic downturn.

After the decision was announced on Friday, protests broke out in several cities, as supporters of Mr. Khan’s political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or P.T.I., took to the streets to denounce the decision.

Hundreds of protesters flooded the roads and disrupted traffic in the northwestern city of Peshawar, in the southern port city of Karachi and in the capital, Islamabad. In one spot, the police fired tear gas into a crowd of protesters blocking one of the main entrances to Islamabad.

The decision on Friday was widely seen as a move by the ruling establishment to intimidate Mr. Khan and possibly pave the way for him to be barred from participating in politics beyond the end of his parliamentary term next year.

The election commission also directed the government to initiate criminal proceedings after accusing Mr. Khan of lying to the commission about his assets from state gifts from 2019 to 2021, according to Mr. Tarar. If convicted, Mr. Khan could be disqualified from holding any office for years to come.

Still, it remains unclear whether the commission has the legal authority to de-seat or disqualify Mr. Khan, who is expected to appeal the decision in the country’s high court.

“We reject this decision and will challenge it in the court,” Omar Sarfraz Cheema, a senior leader of Mr. Khan’s party, said in Lahore. “We are sure that we will get justice from the court.”

Mr. Khan — a former international cricket star who parlayed his celebrity into a remarkable turn as the head of a durable, populist political movement in Pakistan — was ousted from the prime minister post in a vote of no-confidence in April.

But since then, he has made a stunning political comeback. He has drawn tens of thousands of people to his rallies across Pakistan, and his party has won sweeping victories in local elections that have offered a referendum on both his popular support and growing frustration with the current government, led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

In recent weeks, his surging popularity has prompted a growing crackdown by the authorities on Mr. Khan and his allies: Journalists considered “pro-Khan” have been intimidated, P.T.I. supporters have been imprisoned, and Mr. Khan has faced a slew of cases against him in court that many saw as a coordinated campaign by the authorities to force him out of politics.

The Pakistani military has denied accusations that it is behind the recent crackdown against Mr. Khan’s supporters. Military leaders have stressed that the military establishment is an apolitical institution that is not involved with police cases and the civilian courts. And Mr. Sharif and his allies have also insisted that Mr. Khan has simply run afoul of the justice system.

Still, the court cases against him have only buoyed Mr. Khan’s popularity, analysts say, and have appeared to bolster his claims of a state-led conspiracy to oust him from power. This month, in the first round of local elections since charges were brought against him in early September, Mr. Khan himself contested seven National Assembly seats across three provinces and won six.

In Pakistan, a candidate is allowed to contest in multiple races but must choose one and give up the rest if they win several seats.

The electoral victories have undercut the political legitimacy of the current prime minister, Mr. Sharif, who was chosen by Parliament to lead after Mr. Khan’s ouster and who has struggled to establish his political footing since taking power, analysts say.

Mr. Sharif heads a coalition government made up of political parties that have often clashed, and it has struggled to address the ailing economy — an issue exacerbated by the recent monsoon floods that submerged large parts of Pakistan and cost an estimated $30 billion in damages.

The move on Friday came days before Mr. Khan was expected to announce the details of a mass rally in Islamabad in the coming weeks to add pressure behind his calls for the current government to hold general elections sooner than August, when they are currently scheduled.

Similar sieges of Islamabad in recent years have never forced a change in the government but have eroded the political capital of the ruling party, analysts say.

“I am preparing you for the most defining moment in the country’s history,” Mr. Khan said this month at a public rally in Punjab Province. “It is not a political struggle — it is jihad,” he added, using the word for a profound spiritual struggle.

Wary of Mr. Khan’s reputation for whipping up mass unrest, the federal government has been making preparations to thwart Mr. Khan’s protest plans.

Shipping containers have sprouted up as sudden barriers throughout the capital, a favored tactic of the police to stop protesters from entering neighborhoods that house government and diplomatic buildings. The government has also announced an increase in the salaries and allowances for the Islamabad police, apparently in an effort to bolster the force’s resolve.

Rana Sanaullah Khan, the country’s interior minister, threatened to arrest Mr. Khan if he tried to incite unrest in Islamabad. On a local television news program, the interior minister offered the most direct threat that the ruling party has issued a political rival since assuming power.

“We will hang him upside down,” he said.

Zia ur-Rehman contributed reporting.