Riots revisited Hyderabad last week and the city knew it was coming because the pattern was cruelly cliched. On the hot afternoon of June 2, a car pulled up in front of a place of worship in the Old City. The windows rolled down. And out came handwritten pamphletsbefore the car sped off.

People stopped to pick up the leaflets and read a cartoon lampooning the sentiments of a community accompanied by derogatory writing in Hindi and English. The word spread and the pamphlets appeared almost throughout the Old City.

The city was ready for a riot. Enraged youths damaged buses at some parts of the city; the intelligence wing of the state police and the Special Branch of the city police reported to their bosses that the situation was alarming. They said some activists of some fundamentalist organisations and political parties were planning to create trouble. They knew precisely when it was going to happen.

And it happened on June 5. At 1.30 p.m. armed policemen kept vigil as thousands came to offer prayers near a place of worship adjacent to the Charminar. When people came out, they pelted stones.

That was just the beginning. Even before the police could realise what was happening, a strong mob of 50 teenagers with petrol cans attacked the Charminar city busterminus. The mob set ablaze 13 city buses and damaged 13. The police fired in the air.

Mobs burnt shops, private vehicles and stabbed passersby indiscriminately at Hari Bowli. When one mob disappeared, another took over. Violence spread and mobs attacked different targets. The Police Control Room received frantic calls from numerous places but the police were not prepared.

With the situation getting out of control, city Police Commissioner R.P. Singh moved about in the trouble-hit areas. Miscreants threw stones at his car, forcing his securitymen to fire in the air. Meanwhile, the police fired in the air at several places, but the mobs continued the attacks. About 40 people were admitted to the Osmania Hospital with injuries.

By the evening, the police appeared to have brought the situation under control. There were stray incidents of stone-pelting and stabbing and the police took two Majlis MLAs into custody on charges of instigating the violence.

The night passed off tense, but peacefully. Till10.30 a.m. on June 6, there were no reported incidents of violence. Before the police could heave a sigh of relief, an incident of stone-pelting was reported from Hari Bowli. Police opened fire on the mob killing one person and injuring many.

And for the next 10 hours, it was a free for all. Now it was the turn of the other community. And the violence was much worse. The police opened fire at 15 places. The mobs went around stabbing, attacking houses and even the Bhavaninagar police station.

They would raid houses, attack the inmates with knives, loot their property and set the houses on fire. In one incident at Moghulpura, the mobs bolted a house from the outside and set it on fire, trapping two children inside. They were, however, saved by an old man -- belonging to the other community.

By afternoon, Home Minister A. Madhava Reddy rushed to the Old City and held a meeting with senior officials. Curfew was imposed in 13 police station areas after a gap of six years. Despite the curfew, incidents ofviolence were reported from several parts -- eight people dead and about 100 injured.

Life in the Old City was completely paralysed for three days. And most of those injured were the rickshaw pullers, casual labourers and fruit vendors who had to venture out to earn their daily bread. The State Government sent an SOS to the Union Home Ministry and para-military forces were airlifted. Additional forces were rushed in from neighbouring districts. Police arrested about 200 people and cases were registered against some leaders including Majlis MLAs Asaduddin Owaisi.

Director General of Police H.J. Dora refuted the allegations that the police failed to control the situation, while Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said the police should have been bit more cautious.

But the questions remain. Who circulated the pamphlets? Why couldn't the police -- which had anticipated trouble -- prevent the riots? The police grope for answers as a wounded city crawls back to life.

Hyderabad: History Of Riots

Thefirst recorded incidence of communal violence in Hyderabad was in 1938. But curfew was imposed for the first time in September 1947 when the Indian Army had to march into the erstwhile Hyderabad state to contain the violence unleashed by the Nizam's private army, Razakars. Nimboliadda, which is in the heart of the city now, was the centre of the '47 riots.

The city had been relatively peaceful until 1960. However, both communities indulged in large-scale violence in the '60s and curfew clamped many times.

In the '70s, communal tension became a recurring phenomenon. In 1978, three-fourths of the twin cities was brought under curfew following large-scale violence after Rameeza Bee was raped by policemen in the Nallakunta police station.

The city again saw communal violence in 1979, 1981 and 1983. In September 1984, 24 people died and scores injured in violence which broke out during the Ganesh immersion procession. The twin cities were brought under curfew for several days. In the subsequent year,violence rocked the Old City during elections.

For the next six years, when N.T. Rama Rao was the chief minister, the city was free from communal violence and curfew. But in 1990, riots erupted again. The encounter death of a criminal, Sardar, and later L.K. Advani's arrest during his rath yatra led to violence in Hyderabad.

However, the worst riots were in December 1990. Hundreds of people including children were butchered by rampaging mobs and the Army was called in. The riots led to the ouster of the then chief minister M. Channa Reddy.

There were riots in December 1992 following the demolition of the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya. Curfew was imposed and the police could bring the situation under control in a few days. The city, however, has been relatively peaceful for the past six years -- until it erupted on June 5.