Vulnerability to homicide in Karachi: political activity as a risk factor.
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.
Mian
A
A
Department of Community Health Sciences, The Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.
Mahmood
S F
SF
Chotani
H
H
Luby
S
S
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002960:Civil Disorders; D005260:Female; D006708:Homicide / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010154:Pakistan / Q000453:epidemiology; D011057:Politics; D012306:Risk; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014948:Wounds, Gunshot / Q000401:mortality