Treasury benches in Punjab Assembly: 'full quorum becomes a distant dream'

"Lack of quorum" has been the hallmark of 32nd session of Punjab Assembly; the desired number, required to fulfil the quorum, has been a distant dream for the treasury benches and hence it always fails to complete its government business. The Monday's session was not different; a handful of Q-League female ladies frustrated the government by pointing out the quorum.
Although the government just about managed to keep the House in session, yet it knew that it will not be able to retain the required number of legislators in the House for long, especially during legislations. To avoid embarrassment, Speaker Rana Iqbal adjourned the House an hour before its tentative time.
Once again, the opposition benches left the House with victorious feeling, while the treasury benches saw themselves licking their wounds, as they could not complete the agenda of the day, which included eight legislations. The opposition's move did not go well with Speaker Rana Iqbal who showed his dissatisfaction over it. He cautioned that the legislators (especially the ladies) should not make mockery of sanctity of the House. He reminded them that it has been settled in the Advisory Committee that the House's business will not be disturbed, but it is unfortunate this has happened.
Even a PPP legislator, Colonel Abdur Rahman (Retd) criticised the Q-League legislators for creating disturbance in the House's business and accused them of playing to the press gallery. He went on to say that these ladies have a non-serious attitude. His remarks invited a strong protest from the ladies, who not only created commotion in the House but also refused to allow the colonel to continue with his point of order.
They maintained that it was their prerogative to point out quorum and no one can deny them of this right. They also claimed that they have no intention of creating disturbance or seeking publicity, this is the only way to ensure presence of treasury members in the House. "If they are so serious about government business, then why the treasury benches are empty," they questioned.
They did have a point; it is the duty of the government to ensure both the presence of their members in the House and completing government business of the day. However, the House did manage to take up question-answer session on zakat and usher department and concern provincial minister Nadeem Kamran answered the parliamentarians' queries.
To a supplementary question, the minister told the House that the Punjab Government intends to make a law on the allocation of zakat and usher funds to various public welfare sectors, which will ensure regular and reasonable availability of funds to them. He pointed out that after the 18th Amendment the Federal Government is not providing required funds for the institutions running under Punjab Vocational Training Council (PVTC) and others.
Meanwhile, journalists boycotted the press gallery to protest the non-co-operative attitude of the Punjab Information Secretary. They alleged that he was creating hurdles in the development work of Lahore Press Club Housing Society. Only after assurances from Punjab Food Minister of resolving the problems the journalists ended the boycott. The House will meet on Tuesday morning.