International Journal of Epidemiology 2002;31:581-585
© International Epidemiological Association 2002
Special Theme: Injuries and Violence |
Vulnerability to homicide in Karachi: political activity as a risk factor
a Department of Community Health Sciences, The Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.
b Current affiliation: Department of Molecular and Human genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.
c Current affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, University of Illinois, Michael Reese Hospital, Chicago, IL, USA.
d Current affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, McKeesport Hospital, McKeesport, PA, USA.
e Current affiliation: National Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Dr S Luby, Mailstop A-38, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30333, USA. E-mail: sxl2{at}cdc.gov
Background Previous studies analysing Karachi ambulance data from 1993 to 1995 identified neighbourhoods in Karachi disproportionately affected by homicide. As a step toward developing intervention programmes to curb violence, we conducted a study to identify risk factors for becoming a homicide victim in a high violence area of Karachi.
Methods We interviewed families of 35 cases, individuals intentionally killed through acts of violence between January 1994 and January 1997, and 85 community-based controls frequency matched by sex, from Orangi, a high violence area of Karachi.
Results Most of our cases and controls were male (97% and 92%, respectively) and had similar socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds. All the victims were killed by firearms; 4 (11%) had been tortured prior to death. Most of the victims were killed in the streets (n = 25, 71%). Of these, 7 (36%) had been killed by law-enforcement officers, while 6 (24%) died from indiscriminate firing. People who were killed were 34 times more likely to have attended all political processions (29% versus 1%, odds ratio [OR] = 34; 95% CI: 4–749, P < 0.001), 19 times more likely to have attended political meetings (31% versus 2%, OR = 19; 95% CI: 4–136, P < 0.001), and 17 times more likely to have held an important position in a political party (29% versus 2%, OR = 17; 95% CI: 3–120, P < 0.001) than controls.
Conclusions Homicide in Orangi was political. Efforts to improve trust between ethnic groups and to build legitimacy for non-violent forms of conflict resolution are important steps to limit future violence.
Keywords Political violence, homicide, Pakistan, risk factors for homicide, organized violence, ethnicity
Accepted 29 November 2001
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  A. B Zwi Commentary: Studying political violence: we should push for more from epidemiology Int. J. Epidemiol., June 1, 2002; 31(3): 585 - 586. [Full Text] [PDF]
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