ISLAMABAD, Dec 9: The combined opposition in the Senate on Thursday criticized the foreign office for ignoring 'high-handedness' of the French police who had declared Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rehman 'chief terrorist' and subjected his hosts to interrogation.

There was uproar in the house followed by a token walkout as many opposition members stood up and started speaking at the same time when some treasury members tried to hush up the matter.

Acting chairman Commander Khalilur Rehman calmed the house by asking the ruling coalition to listen to the points of order raised by the opposition. Quoting from press reports, opposition senators pointed out that the hosts of Maulana Fazl were harshly treated, interrogated and detained.

They were still under strict surveillance, they said. The French police also declared Maulana Fazl chief terrorist, the senators said. They termed it a failure of the foreign office.

The opposition also criticized President General Pervez Musharraf for what it said his attempt to trivialize the incident by saying that the maulana's hosts should be asked as to why they had invited him to visit France.

The combined opposition staged a token walkout to register its displeasure. They regretted that the government of Pakistan had not taken any notice of the incident which, they said, was a breach of privilege of parliament.

The government assured the opposition that its sentiments would be immediately passed on to the foreign office for taking up the matter with France. Earlier, rising on a point of order Liaquat Bangulzai of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal invited the attention of the house to press reports about the incident.

Mian Raza Rabbani, parliamentary leader of the People's Party Parliamentarians, and Prof Khurshid Ahmed of the MMA joined hands to condemn the incident and blame the government for failing to take notice of it.

"If the leader of the opposition can be put to such disrespect, it means our foreign office has failed to put up a respectable image of the country's politicians abroad," Mr Rabbani said.

Leader of the House Wasim Sajjad held out an assurance that the matter would be brought to the notice of the foreign office with instructions to take it up with the French government for clarification.

At one stage, treasury members in unison took serious notice of a remark by an opposition senator regarding President Musharraf. Responding to an adjournment motion by Prof Khurshid, Health Minister Nasir Khan assured the house that the internationally banned drug 'Vioxx' had been withdrawn from all stores in the country since Oct 4.

He said the government had banned the drug on Oct 4 and advertised the decision through print and electronic media. He said that 1.8 million pills were withdrawn from stores during a general checking.

Prof Khurshid claimed that the drug, which had claimed 69,000 lives the world over, was available on the periphery of the country and doctors were still prescribing it.

Meanwhile, amendments to the Senate rules by suspending Rule 236 were sent to the house standing committee after a brief protest against it by opposition. The committee will present its report to the house within 15 days.

Three ordinances - 'The Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils (Amendment) Ordinance 2004', 'The Pakistan Engineering Council (Amendment) Ordinance, 2004' and 'The Police Order (Amendment) Ordinance 2004' were also presented in the house. The opposition criticized the government for promulgation of ordinances.