HE mystery continues to deepen. Some well-known members of Mr Asif Ali Zardari`s inner circle have deserted him recently. Many others who had long been sitting on the fence appear ready to go over to the other side, most eying the PTI as their new home, but with a few rare ones among them apparently wanting to join the FML-N. Many of the politicians who have joined the PTI claim they have been forced by circumstances to play the role of modern-day turncoat. They accuse Mr Zardari of inaction or only soft opposition to the PML-N. Their talk appears to imply that there is some kind of an understanding between the PML-N and what remains of the outfit inherited by Ms Benazir Bhutto`s spouse at her passing in late 2007. Outside Sindh, the party has all but crumbled in less than 10 years. It has been almost a decade of political inaction in the name of reconciliation that has reduced the PPP to its present-day tiny existence in Punjab and beyond. Yet there are no signs that the leadership is any more bothered by the recent wave of defections than it was previously when Mr Zardari was confronted by evidence of how the party was losing its moorings. Its fortunes have plummeted in not just Punjab but also in many other areas such as KP and even Azad Kashmir where it was once quite the people`s favourite.

True to tradition, there is not much by way of reaction from Mr Zardari as his `friends` ditch him. And if this were not strange enough, the lack of resistance seems to have been transferred from Mr Zardari to his son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. The young man who was until recently considered by diehard PPP jiyalas to have been blessed with special powers that could resurrect the party appears to be copying his father. At a time when he should be agitated and making efforts to build dams against the torrents that threaten to wash away his party in the plains of Punjab and elsewhere in the country, all he can manage is a faint smile and a few quiet words that are lost in the din of departures. Very little effort is visible on his part to save the party or its legacy. This is a new for the PPP. It seems to have conceded without a contest.