It is difficult to see how a small four letter word can ignite so much hatred, remain burned in the minds and memories of our parents and fuel further controversy.

'Paki' - a word so frivolous, yet so painfully present.

I remember being at primary school and a cheeky blond haired boy saying to me matter-of-factly: "You're a Paki'.

I felt like a peculiar, brown dinosaur that he'd heard and read about in his comic. Even at the tender age of 8, I knew that this was a word that deployed immediate terror. Mouths opened - everyone on guard, the playground seemed to stop moving and everybody stared at me. I stood isolated thinking "I'm not a Paki; I'm the same as you". 'The word' would be graffiti-ed over walls - big letters "PAKIS OUT'.

Adults were the ones who dispensed it, but it was the children who read it. It was the nave innocence in the white kids that made them complacent with their parents. Had to protect their country from the brown army - make the Asian kids feel like social outcasts.

It's quite bizarre how now almost 15 years later, I've hardly heard the word used against me. Maybe it's because our society has developed and people are more accepting. The UK has become a cosmopolitan country of colour; or maybe it's because our younger generation is more outspoken and not as willing as our forefathers to take such insult. Or boldly maybe it's the users who feel they are now out ganged and so choose to keep their views to themselves.

In my mind the question does not concern the origins of the word 'paki'- it is what the word represents. It is true that a person from Afghanistan is an Afghan; a person from Uzbekistan is an Uzbek, so why can't a person from Pakistan naturally be called a Paki?

This is precisely the question that businessman and designer Abdul Rahim is asking.. By branding his clothing range with the logo 'Paki', Rahim claims his intentions are to reclaim the word 'from the racists who hijacked' it. Rahim believes that the 'power and confidence is with them' and he simply wants it 'back with us'.

He does have a point because other minorities such as the black community have taken re-claimed some terms which were (and so a large extent still are) offensive to them.

I, however, find myself unable to share his views. On the one hand re-adopting it in this 'positive way' (whilst sporting his T-shirts) may create a sense of unity in our community and show our ability to laugh with them. But the all important question is do we need this right now at the height of Islamaphobia?

Is unity amongst ourselves really what is needed here? I am of the opinion that we are finding ourselves more desperate to integrate into society again. But isn't this the position our parents found themselves in when they came to this country? Now we, the younger generation, are in the same predicament. I can't understand how wearing Paki T shirts will not incite hatred and disintegrate us further.

Last year, a man from Manchester was the first individual to be banned from using the word 'paki'. If he does use it then he faces imprisonment. The Courts have also ruled that using the word in football chants is racially offensive, so how can we possibly re-adopt this word?

Another issue of concern are the implications that would naturally follow from use. We happily call ourselves Paki's but when others call us it we claim that they are being racist. Our own double standards would need addressing first.

In the long term Paki could be used to replace the word Asian, so any person with brown skin (regardless of the fact that they may well not be from Pakistan) could be called a Paki. I can see how this could be insulting.

But, as a final point for your thoughts, businessmen always sit on their profits, while the people get landed with having to cope with the repercussions - so maybe the politics of deciding what we should be called should be left to us - the people, and not be dictated by profit.