ABSTRACT
Oxford Pakistanis may identify themselves and others in relation to their village or region of origin in Pakistan. This regional classification is also in effect a map of social distance, in that friends and acquaintances tend to be drawn, initially at least, from the same village or region of origin. Cutting across this social map, however, is another classification based on categories called zāts or qaums. Sometimes these terms are used interchangeably. My impression, though, is that people from the North West Frontier are more likely to use the word qaum,whereas Panjabis, particularly the Faisalabadis who were or whose parents were refugees in 1947 from Jullundhur which is now in India, are more likely to use the word zāt or jat. What exactly qaum refers to in the Pakistani context is much debated; it may be translated as tribe, race, family, people or nation 1 . Other groups, such as those of the Faisalabadis who were refugees in 1947 from Jullundhur, which is now in India, use the term zāt (or jati). Zāt is very often translated as caste and has more specifically Hindu connotations, yet it meaning in Pakistani usage is far from clear.
