Legislation allowing military courts to try anyone accused of terrorism expected to be passed by upper house next week

Special courts run by Pakistan’s army will try civilians accused of terrorism under a measure passed on Tuesday that critics say gives too much power to an already over-mighty military.

The bill, which would hand terrorism trials to the army for two years, was passed unopposed in a vote by Pakistan’s lower house, giving it more than the two-thirds majority required for a constitutional amendment.

Military courts are part of the political response to the massacre of more than 130 schoolboys in the city of Peshawar last month, which shocked even a country that has grown accustomed to militancy.

The ambitious plans include regulating madrasas, the religious schools accused of promoting extremism, and forming a new anti-terrorism force. But it is the prospect of soldiers trying civilians in the coup-prone country that has caused the most unease.

The government has been trying to quell fears the trials will be used against mainstream political parties, the media or separatist groups. Supporters of the measure say the country has little choice but to bring in the army given the dismal record of civilian courts run by fearful judges with no personal security, who regularly acquit terrorist suspects.

Syed Khurshid Ahmed Shah, leader of the parliamentary opposition, underscored the reluctance of many politicians to vote for what he called a “bitter pill”. “We have not been in favour of military courts in the past but the Pakistani public’s safety is our priority and it is the government’s responsibility to keep the masses safe in this country,” he said.

The country’s radical religious parties are also uneasy about measures to tackle militants who claim to be fighting in the name of Islam. Two leading Islamist parties, the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam faction led by Fazal-ur-Rehman, abstained from voting on the bill, which will be debated by the senate on Wednesday.

Entirely absent from parliament were members of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, the opposition party led by the former cricket player Imran Khan, which has repeatedly promised a mass resignation of MPs over its drawn-out dispute with the government about last year’s general election, which Khan alleges was rigged.

Although the constitutional amendment is likely to be passed it may face challenges from the country’s legal community. Leading lawyers have expressed their opposition to military courts, which the supreme court has previously ruled as being unconstitutional.