A Pakistani graduate of Sandhurst described the Prince’s comment as “derogatory and racist” yesterday, adding that if Harry had used the term at the military school itself he would have been thrown out.

Major Affan Ihtesham, who graduated from the Royal Military Academy in 2000, said that the Prince should be disciplined after being caught on video describing a platoon comrade as a “Paki”.

Major Ihtesham, who was awarded the Overseas Sword as the foreign cadet considered the best of the year’s Sandhurst intake and now serves in the Pakistani Army, told The Times: “Prince Harry’s comment is derogatory and racist. It is unacceptable. He would have been thrown out had he used that term for anyone at Sandhurst.”

The Prince’s use of the term when referring to Ahmed Raza Khan provoked widespread condemnation in Pakistan and Britain.

Nasim Zehra, a leading newspaper columnist in Pakistan, said: “It is a conduct unbecoming from a person of his background.”

Iftakhar Raja, Captain Khan’s uncle, told the BBC yesterday of his disappointment with the Prince, adding: “We expect better from a member of the Royal Family.”

The Muslim Council of Britain described the Prince’s comments as offensive but welcomed his apology. It released a statement saying: “It beggars belief that Prince Harry did not realise just how crude and offensive such a remark is. The Army is looking to recruit from minority communities and this kind of remark will not help the impression that the Army is one of the last refuges of prejudice towards minorities.”

However, Inayat Bunglawal, its spokesman, later said that it was “time to move on” because the Prince had apologised.

Others called for Prince Harry to be removed from his army post. Aki Nawaz, a musician and activist, told the BBC: “I think he should be dismissed from the MoD. We’ve had to live with this for 40 years. This is not taking a political position, this is having some kind of moral decency towards people from different communities. I mean all I can recall is through my youth being at concerts and skinheads at the back sieg-heiling, calling me the ‘P’ word.”

Shafiur Rahman, a British Asian documentary maker, said that the Prince’s language was damaging to the Royal Family. “If anything, this is an insult to his own grandmother, who is the head of the Commonwealth,” he said. “There is a notion that a Britain that has a monarchy is likely to be less xenophobic than a Britain without a monarchy. But with characters like Harry and Prince Philip, you do wonder.”

Nadira Mirza, a Dean at the University of Bradford, said that many of the first generation of Pakistani immigrants who had been in Britain for 30 years or more and were very loyal to the Royal Family would be hugely disappointed. She said that the term “Paki” was used by a number of young British Asians in a very “affectionate way”, but added: “If it’s shouted to you when you are crossing the road, it’s got a completely different connotation.”

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