16th SAARC Convection is being held at Thimpu, the capital of Bhutan. Looking back to its history there have been the record of one of the participating leader to face a bad fate after the summit. In the history of 15 Summits being held so far, 7 of the participants faced bad luck at home. To me, it looks more like a coincidence as the political scenario are pretty much dynamic and they are always changing.

With Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal visiting the 16th Summit, and volatile political environment in Kathmandu, many are expecting the history to repeat on his case.

(Left to Right: Hussain Mohammed Ershad, Nawaz Sharif, Ranasinghe Premadasa, Khaleda Zia)

• In 1990, after the Summit in Maldives, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Hussain Mohammed Ershad had to step down and even go to jail.
• In 1993, after the SAARC Summit, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was sacked by the President. Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa was killed in a suicide bomb attack within three weeks of the Summit.
• In 1995 , after the 8th Summit in New Delhi, India, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Khaleda Zia had to step down.

(Left to right: Inder Kumar Gujral, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Gyanendra Shah)

• In 1997, after Ninth Summit at Maldives, Indian Prime Minister, Inder Kumar Gujral government had to step down within 6 months.
• In 1999, after the SAARC Summit in Colombo, the Indian government of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had to step down due to a single vote of no-confidence.
• In 2005, after Dhaka Summit, then King Gyanendra had to step down as a King and remain a general citizen.

(Similar news was published in 1998, courtesy: New Straits Times – Jul 26, 1998)