KATMANDU, Jan 2: South Asian leaders are preparing for a summit here on Friday amid tight security against assassination, but for some a threat may come from an unexpected quarter — the ‘curse of the summits.’

The seven-member regional grouping is becoming legendary for the bad luck that befalls heads of state and governments attending summits that have also proved a nightmare to organise.

South Asia — which is home to a fifth of the world’s humanity and plagued by poverty, civil strife and bitter border disputes — has seen leaders rise and fall periodically but the summits may have added a new dimension.

Former Indian prime minister Inder Kumar Gujral fell from power in November 1997 after attending the summit in the Maldivian capital Male.

Gujral had been in the limelight only six months earlier with a historic meeting with then prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

And to the superstitious, the fall of Nawaz Sharif shortly after attending the 10th summit in Colombo reinforced a superstition the gatherings spell bad news for regional leaders.

Misfortune has afflicted at least one SAARC leader after every conference, with one going to jail and another being assassinated.

After then Bangladeshi prime minister Hussain Muhammad Ershad attended the November 1990 summit in the Maldives, he fell from office and went straight to prison.

Five years later his successor Khaleda Zia was toppled after attending the eighth summit in New Delhi, but was luckier than Ershad in that she managed to avoid jail.

Nawaz Sharif, who attended his fourth summit last time round, had his share of SAARC bad luck after the April 1993 summit in Dhaka when he was sacked by the president.

Similarly dismissed in 1996 was Ms Benazir Bhutto.

Sri Lankan president Ranasinghe Premadasa lived less than three weeks after attending the seventh SAARC summit in Bangladesh in 1993, killed by a suspected Tamil suicide bomber.

Nepal’s former prime minister Girja Prasad Koirala made it to summits in 1991 and 1993 before being ousted, eventually bouncing back and attending his third summit in Colombo in 1998.

Insulated from the bad luck could be Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, in office since 1978, and Bhutan’s King Jigme Singye Wangchuk. Both are founding members of SAARC.

The Bhutanese monarch, however, missed the SAARC summit for the first time in 1998 and sent his prime minister instead.

“I don’t think any country looks at the summits from a superstitious point of view,” said one Asian diplomat. “But, the bad luck befalling many leaders must make an interesting study.”—AFP