Why are community names used as insults in Pakistan? In a 2016 essay for Scroll.in, journalist Haroon Khalid argues that social hierarchy and prejudice—not anything inherent in a name—give it the force of a curse. His examples span caste and community identities as well as religious identifiers, so they should not be treated as one interchangeable category or repeated as neutral labels.
How a name acquires the force of an insult
Khalid’s point is not that every use of these words is hostile. It is that a word’s social meaning depends on who uses it, toward whom, and within what relationship. A name associated with a subordinated group can be turned into a put-down when prejudice makes that identity seem shameful to outsiders.
A 2024 socio-onomastics study of Punjabi speakers in rural Pakistan offers context for this process: names linked to dominant castes could serve as positive nicknames, while subordinate-caste names used as nicknames could signal irony, derision, or anger. That finding helps show how hierarchy shapes the force of a name; it does not verify every historical account in Khalid’s essay.
The contrast can also exist within a single identity. Khalid describes Kanjar identity in Lahore’s Hira Mandi as having standing within the community even while broader society stigmatized it. A label may therefore carry belonging or status for some people and serve as an insult in an outsider’s mouth.
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Different names, different histories
Khalid’s examples include caste- and community-associated names alongside words for religious identities. His accounts are historical and interpretive descriptions from a 2016 essay, not a current survey or a license to define whole communities by stigmatized associations.
Kanjar and Mirasi
Khalid describes Kanjar as a traditionally nomadic community that settled in cities across India and Pakistan. In his account of Pakistan, he discusses the association outsiders make between Kanjar identity and prostitution, while also drawing on Fouzia Saeed’s account of Hira Mandi to show that identity could carry standing within the community. That tension matters: a group is not defined by a stereotype imposed on it.
He describes Mirasi as keepers of oral tradition who memorized and narrated local families’ heroic histories, and notes their association with music. His wider point is the contradiction in elite patronage: powerful patrons could consume performances by Mirasi and Kanjar artists, yet condemn those communities and professions outside the entertainment setting.
Changar
Khalid places Changar among nomadic communities exposed to social prejudice. Where he discusses negative assumptions about the group, those should be understood as stereotypes he is describing—not as established facts about Changar people.
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Chuhra and Mussali
Khalid describes the historical association of Chuhra with sweeping and the imposition of untouchability, then discusses the term’s derogatory use toward Christians in Punjab. Spelling varies across sources; a 2021 South Asia State of Minorities report also describes “Churha” as a caste-associated slur used against Christians, in connection with caste status and sweeping. Neither spelling should be mistaken for a preferred name simply because it appears in a source.
Khalid also describes Mussali as a community subjected to untouchability and says the name continues to be used as a slur. That specific historical account belongs to his essay; the available context does not establish a broader independent history for it.
Hindu and Yahudi
Hindu and Yahudi are religious identifiers, not caste names. Khalid writes that “Hindu” can sometimes be used to suggest that someone is untrustworthy or conniving, and that Yahudi—the Arabic word for Jew—can also be used as a slur. He interprets the latter usage as having acquired a newer connotation after Israel’s creation. These are claims about particular uses and changes in connotation, not evidence that either word is inherently insulting or that every use is derogatory.
When casual name-calling is treated as normal
A 2022 study by Ali, Saba, and Hassan surveyed 100 participants from Punjab. Its abstract reports that respondents disliked name-calling and said it had negative effects, while also noting that such language could be treated as routine among candid friends. The sample is not nationally representative, and it does not establish how common these insults are across Pakistan. No reliable national prevalence figure is available in the cited material.
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Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Familiarity or joking intent does not settle what a term communicates. Context matters: whether the speaker belongs to the named community or is speaking from outside it; whether the setting is intimate, public, institutional, or mediated; and whether the relationship is equal or shaped by social power. A nickname that passes as banter among friends can still draw on a wider hierarchy.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the examples can—and cannot—tell us
Khalid’s essay is an argument about language and power, not a census of usage. It brings distinct histories together to show how community names can be made derogatory, but those examples do not prove that every speaker intends harm, that all members share the same experience, or that the words have identical meanings everywhere.
Related work on colonial depictions of Sindh and Sindhis examines labels such as “barbarism” and “martial-less race” as colonial constructions whose effects, the authors argue, continued to shape elites and mass media. That is a related example of derogatory description serving power; it is not evidence for the histories of the Punjabi communities Khalid discusses.
The most careful reading holds two ideas together: a name may be meaningful or valued by the people who carry it, while others use it to diminish them; and a word’s harmful use does not erase the histories or identities behind it. Khalid captures his central argument in one sentence: “There is nothing intrinsic about the word Kanjar that renders it a suitable curse for my dear friend.”
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