Two weeks after the lower house passed the bill, the government-dominated Senate endorsed the legislation amid opposition uproar.

The debate leading up to the vote was punctuated by cries from opposition senators of "Shame, shame" and "Go Musharraf, go, we don't accept the rule of the gun".

The bill was eventually passed on a voice vote after opposition senators walked out of the chamber.

Musharraf, who seized power five years ago, must now sign the bill into law. It will formally see him break a public promise to quit his military post by the end of this year.

"I have been saying that a president in uniform is undemocratic but it was important due to the peculiar circumstances in Pakistan," Musharraf said in a national address in December last year, as he vowed to relinquish the army post.