Answers Please?

Hello Earthlings, Varos Quasar here, and I have a question.

There's a lot of ballyhoo about a video featuring Prince Harry using the word "Paki" as a nickname for one of his squad-mates. Now, as the site's token liberal, I have no doubt that the term is racist, and that Prince Harry must be racist for using it, and is therefore worse than Hitler, but I still have a question.

Why is the term "Paki" racist?

I mean if you meet someone descended from the people of Uzbekistan and ask them if they're an Uzbek, and they will usually answer yes, and often with pride. Ask someone from Kazakhstan if they're a Kazakh, and they will say yes, and often with pride. You would get the same response from people from Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and even the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

So what's the problem with Pakistan?

Why are they ashamed by the name of their nation?

I've looked it up, and the name was constructed as a wordplay symbolizing how the country was composed of Punjab, Afghania, Kashmir, Sindh, and Baluchistan regions while also meaning "Land of the Pure" in Urdu and Persian.

So what's wrong with being called "Pure" or acknowledging the country's rich ethnic tapestry?

Could it be Pakistan's creation by political opportunists who used religious nationalism in 1947 to cover up their own lack of foresight in forging the necessary alliances with Hindus in the struggle for Indian independence from the British Empire?

Is it that the country swings wildly between corrupt and incompetent elected governments, to autocratic and incompetent military dictatorships?

Or maybe it's the country's headlong rush to the seventh century, while it's neighbour India looks forward to become a democratic, economic, and military superpower in the 21st century?

Why haven't the people of Pakistan and their relations abroad simply seized the name and wear it with pride?

As a liberal I will accept as racist what I am told to be racist, but I do like to know why.