I use the word 'Paki' to refer to people from Pakistan. I'm not racist at all, I just don't see why it's any different from calling a person from Britain a 'Brit'.
These words have such huge taboos around them which need to be broken before we can truly move on from racism.
As long as words such as 'paki', and even '******', are taboo, racists will be able to take a single word and insult a whole nation, which is giving them a weapon.
(the word which was bleeped out, in a way reiterating my point- silly tsr- began with n- and ended with -er)