After Gujarat's temple attack

The attack left 31 dead and several injured

By Jill McGivering BBC correspondent, Gujarat

From outside, the armed siege passed in a blur of darkness and confusion.

The air was thick with the screech of ambulance sirens, the drone of loudspeakers and the crack of gunfire on and off all night.

Sometimes a cry went up from the crowd gathered at the gates of the temple compound, and emergency workers ran out, an injured body slung between them in blankets.

Some of the injured were carried out on blankets

The real story unfolded afterwards when daybreak brought an end.

There was the lazy triumph of the commandos in their black uniforms, holding their weapons Rambo-style as they posed for photographs.

Then there were the frantic holy men in orange robes calling to them to keep off the grass and whisking female reporters out of holy places.

And we could also see the bloodied bodies of the two gunmen displayed on the gravel.

They were young lads, barely out of their teens.

We still do not know who they really were.

India links them to a Pakistan-based militant group, predictably accusing its main enemy.

	Temple facts: Owned by one of India's richest Hindu sects Built 10 years ago by nearly 1,000 craftsmen Made of 6,000 intricately carved blocks of pink sandstone Visited by two million people every year 'Temple of peace'

Pakistan - just as predictably - denies this.

The hospitals revealed a lot more bloodshed.

Here the awful randomness of the attack hit home.

Sebi, a gorgeous little girl, two-years-old, was clinging to her grandmother.

Her huge brown eyes were bewildered, her hands and stomach injured by shrapnel.

Eleven members of her family were hurt in the attack, we heard, including her mother and sister.

They had not yet broken the news to her that her father had died.

Prikash, a pretty woman of 22, had been visiting the temple for the first time with her sons.

She was hit by a hand grenade, packed with nails.

Hindu fear

There was a Muslim victim too, Abdul, also a tourist.

I wondered what he made of the procession of bearded Hindu holy men blessing the others, or the army of volunteers from the right-wing Hindu organisation who strolled up and down the ward blowing whistles and barking commands, clad in their trademark uniform of khaki shorts.

The temple stands for an ideology of love and compassion

In front of our eyes, these very ordinary people seemed to be acquiring the status of Hindu heroes.

This attack didn't come from nowhere.

For months Hindus have been whispering about being under threat.

Many told me on my previous visits that the minority Muslim community was secretly arming itself - getting ready to murder Hindus in the dead of night.

Local Muslims called this nonsense.

But Hindu fear hung over this place like a guilty shadow - some called it guilty conscience.

Horrific riots

You might remember the riots earlier this year in which hundreds of Muslims, men, women and children, were murdered.

I happened to be here then too, when the riots started - one of the most horrific outbursts of brutality I have ever seen.

Whole neighbourhoods were burnt down by the mob, with Muslim families burned alive inside.

Some of the victims were small children

We were repeatedly stopped on the road, as youths carrying home-made weapons and swords searched our car for Muslims.

The stories of rape, torture and other atrocities carried out in those few days are still be catalogued.

The wounds opened then have never healed.

Many Muslims who used to live in mixed Hindu-Muslim neighbourhoods have retreated to all-Muslim ghettos.

Other are still living in tents, more than six months later, because they lost everything.

Muslims terrified

Allegations that the pro-Hindu government was complicit in the bloodshed have added to the sense of outrage and alienation - they are now running for re-election.

This siege, and the Hindu indignation about this attack on a sacred site, is just the latest turn in a deepening spiral of killing and counter killing.

The attack has sparked Hindu anger

Now many Muslims are again terrified. Frightened of another spate of revenge riots.

Two days after the siege, the right-wing Hindu groups called a shutdown - a nationwide protest strike.

Shops left their metal fronts rolled down, and local people stayed indoors fearing trouble.

The city of Ahmedabad was eerie, and deserted.

As we drove through the empty streets one of the few visible figures was about eight feet tall - an imposing statue of Mahatma Gandhi, with his trademark spectacles and staff in hand, looming over an abandoned thoroughfare.

The fact Gandhi came from Gujarat is a matter of intense pride here.

Gandhi's legacy

Partly in his name, the state has banned alcohol - one of the only states in India to do so.

Many Muslims fear revenge attacks

It is a shame his other teachings are not being followed as faithfully.

Gandhi too struggled in the face of Hindu-Muslim violence, but would not be swayed from a path of peace and forgiveness.

The story goes that in the chaos of the Calcutta riots - again Hindus versus Muslims - an embittered Hindu came to Gandhi saying his son had been murdered by Muslims, and he wanted revenge.

Gandhi's reported answer was simple - find a young Muslim boy, just like your son, he said, whose parents have been murdered by Hindus.

Bring him up yourself, keeping his Muslim traditions, and you will find peace.

I wonder what he would make of it all today.

His statue is silent, but it is just as well it is so tall.

It means local people are not forced to look him in the eye.