Apparently sparked by recent events in neighbouring Iraq, growing communal tension between Sunni and Shiite Muslims in Kuwait has prompted swift intervention by the government.
After meeting with Shiite leaders last week, Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah held talks late Saturday with the emirate's mainstream Sunni group, the Islamic Constitutional Movement (ICM), or Muslim Brotherhood.
And he is scheduled to meet once again with the Shiites late Sunday and hold further consultations with the country's various political groupings.
"The government intends to take preemptive measures consistent with the existing laws to control the situation. The measures aim at combating extremism in both camps," Nasser al-Sane, a leading Islamist lawmaker and ICM deputy secretary general, told AFP.
The meeting was part of efforts launched by the veteran premier to defuse tension between the two communities in the wealthy Gulf state.
"The premier expressed fear that individual incidents that have taken place might develop. He called for appreciation of his plans and got a solid backing. He aims at implementing the law to promote peaceful coexistence," Sane said.
Although the situation has not reached crisis level, the premier took the initiative of meeting with political and religious groupings in a bid to contain any deterioration in relations between Shiites and Sunnis, he said.
Shiite activist Yasser al-Habeeb was in January sentenced to one year in prison after being convicted of "insulting the Prophet Mohammed's companions, abusing a religious sect (Sunnis) and distributing audiotapes without a licence."
Habeeb was freed on February 25 in an annual pardon by the emir, but was later ordered rearrested on the grounds that his release was a mistake, although he remains at large.
The incident ignited tit-for-tat statements and comments from hardliners in both camps through the media and in mosques.
Kuwaiti Shiites have been encouraged by events in neighbouring Iraq where the power of the majority Shiites is on the ascendant after years of persecution and oppression under Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated regime.
"We can not really isolate Kuwait from events taking place in neighbouring countries," said Sane when asked if the current flare-up in communal hostilities in the emirate was a result of developments in Iraq.
The reaction of Kuwait's Shiites to what has transpired in Iraq is reminiscent of their response to the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran.
This year, Shiites here marked their religious events with rapturous celebrations and for the first time staged a historical play in public depicting the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the Prophet Mohammed's grandson.
Shiites make up about one third of Kuwait's indigenous population of 900,000. Their ancestors hailed from Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
But they have only five members in the 50-seat parliament elected last July, down from six in the previous parliament.
They also have one post in the emirate's 16-member cabinet, that of Mohammad Abulhasan, who holds the important information portfolio and has been the target of verbal attacks by Sunni Islamists.
"The premier affirmed that every citizen is free to practise his religious rituals ... provided they do not breach the law," Shiite cleric Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer al-Mahri said in a statement after meeting Sheikh Sabah last week.
Liberal writers, meanwhile, urged Sheikh Sabah, Kuwait's strong man who was appointed premier after last July's polls, to enforce the law against those fuelling sectarianism.
"The prime minister has the constitution and several laws to safeguard society. No one would blame him if he performed his duty," columnist Saud al-Samaka wrote in Sunday's Al-Qabas newspaper.