The method used -- stray, quick stabbings, rather than marauding or rampaging -- is different to what has been seen in the city in recent times. Some police officials say the violence is akin to that preceding the 1992 riots. Former DGP M M Singh says, however, that there's no need to panic. The situation can be controlled if ``the political bosses and the people develop sanity''.

At present, however, the city is gripped by fear and uncertainty, the government is groping in the dark. Some people have been arrested, but only for stone-pelting. No one knows who is behind the spate of stabbings. Minister of State for Home Haren Pandya has a weak defence: ``This violence is unnatural. It looks planned. We have sought the help of the Intelligence Bureau.''

Naturally, the police is under criticism. A harried Hira Lal, Additional Director General of Police, says they have deployed whatever forces they have and are getting more. ``We are taking all necessary measures. We will control the situation '', he says. A more practical view comes from M M Singh: Riots can be controlled, but how do you deal with silent, quick stabbings?

The public don't care; they are scared and want action, now. Says Mustafa Sheikh, owner of the famous Italian Bakery, ``In the past, you always had got some idea of who was behind the trouble; not this time. Every morning, we open the bakery, hoping the day passes peacefully. But every day something happens.''

Rameshbhai Patel, a shopkeeper in Khadia, says he keeps calling his home at regular intervals to inform the family he's safe; ``otherwise, they ring me up''. Vipul Bhatt, who works in a private company, says he had stopped going to office. ``It means loss of salary, but why take the risk? Only the innocent are dying.''

Many believe that the violence is being engineered by politicians and, predictably, the Congress and the BJP are blaming each other. BJP spokesman Bharat Pandya says the Congress is creating trouble ``because it has no issue for the elections''. The BJP government, he says, brought Muslims into the mainstream. ``In the past, Muslims used to celebrate India's defeat in cricket. During the Kargil crisis, for the first time, both Hindus and Muslims burnt effigies of Nawaz Sharif'', he said.

Congress president C D Patel alleges that the BJP was engineering trouble because its efforts to capitalise on Kargil and the Lahore bus treaty had backfired. He has demanded a judicial inquiry into the incidents. Independent corporator Usmangani Devdiwala blames both parties, saying they want to divide people with an eye on the Lok Sabha elections.

The tensions, police officials say, had been simmering since the cricket World Cup and Kargil began. After India beat Pakistan at Old Trafford, anti-Muslim slogans were raised in certain mixed-community localities. And when the Kargil crisis hotted up, slogans against the minority community mixed with those against Pakistan. This led to communal clashes at Dudheshwar, Astodia and Manekchowk, forcing the police to state that no effigies could be burnt without their permission.

Then, bar some stray trouble during the Rathayatra festival, things were peaceful. Till July 20, when some people objected to heckling of a mentally unsound man in Dariapur. A clash led to rioting and then curfew. The more things change, it seems, the more they remain the same.