LUNAWADA: Nobody in Lunawada — from the police to the common man — knows why the town is burning at a time when peace has apparently returned to the rest of the state. As violence returns to haunt its citizens at regular intervals, people here are putting the blame on a host of factors, from eve-teasing to the ensuing municipality elections.

While curfew was relaxed briefly on Wednesday for women, tension was palpable on the roads and lanes which saw incidents of stone-pelting on Monday. However, the Muslim population in the town, mostly settled in the Madhwas Darwaza, Dagbarwada and Arampura areas, are jittery as they complain that the police have been biased in carrying out combing operations.

But in-charge superintendent of police of Panchmahals Nitiraj Solanki, who took over on January 2 after Narsimha Komar reported sick, does not believe that the police action was one-sided. Solanki, however, says it was a routine operation to flush out mischief mongers. “Combing was done in Muslimdominated areas simply because it was from there that the violence had started, and it was names of youths from those areas that figured in the FIR. There is no question of any bias here.

In the first phase, we have arrested Hindus too. I have held as many as 11 peace committee meetings, and have even asked the MLA to appeal for peace,” says Solanki,who is camping here since Monday. Solanki shot into prominence when the Election Commission sought his transfer just before the elections. Solanki was given the charge of the sensitive Panchmahals district last week. Violence was first witnessed here last Wednesday and it spilled over on to Thursday as mobs resorted to stone-pelting. Violence revisited Lunawada on Monday while curfew was relaxed partially.

About 75 people have been arrested since Thursday. What also irked them was the fact that the newly-elected MLA, Kalu Maliwad of the BJP, has stayed away from Lunawada. “The combing operations have left us in fear and apprehension. The SP assured us in meetings that peace would return, but we are still apprehensive,” says Haji Ibrahim Surti. “We cannot forget the Limbadiya Chowkdi incident that saw about 40 people being burnt alive. The court may have acquitted Maliwad, but we know about him. In such a situation, we can only hope and pray,” adds Surti.

The Hindus here too are living in fear as even minor incidents and rumour-mongering are leading to a flare-up. “It was just a rumour about someone pricking a Muslim girl with a pin, while she stood in a queue last Wednesday for her photo-identity card, that sparked all this trouble,” says Kanti Solanki of Ranawas. “We have just come out of such troubled times, and do not want any more violence,” he adds. The atmosphere is so charged that even an affair between a Muslim boy and Hindu girl led to a furore. People recall another affair in the heat of the riots when a Hindu boy eloped with a Muslim girl, but were later made to return and the boy committed suicide in Ahmedabad.

“Such incidents are common in tribal areas, and this time it seems the news about the affair between a Muslim boy and the daughter of a government official played a role in fanning tension,” says Solanki. People also point out that the election to the 27-member Lunawada municipality, which is likely to be held soon, has also added to the tension, with both the Congress and BJP trying to wrest control.