The word “resilience” has cropped up a lot recently. Last week I spent a day working with a UK based organization, Achilles, who are developing “resilience training” for people operating in tough environments. The Oxford Dictionary uses the word “toughness” in its description of the word. I’d love to know what the word translates to in Urdu (or Sindhi or Baloch), as it was a word that came up in many conversations, when I was in Karachi recently.

“It is said that we are the most resilient of nations”, said one businessman, “and Karachi is a city which gets up again and again”. Another Karachite claimed that whilst the city is not particularly united, it is brimming with the spirit of survival - and that this is where the strength lies.

In my call for stories that demonstrate “resilience”, countless readers recommended that I look at the people of Pakistan – they have survived floods, poverty, violence and lack of infrastructure support. An example from Adeel who wrote, “I suggest you go there and visit the ordinary lower and middle classes who despite everything still survive and go about their everyday business and life, keeping a semblance of normality in their minds”. Unfortunately, until I get a proper job, I cannot afford the luxury of another Pakistan trip, so until I do, I am relying on readers to share remarkable examples of overcoming struggles with me. Think hard – this is not just about the bad bits, but your ability to rise above them.

I understand that there are various degrees of hardship and different approaches to resilience. Some shine with entrepreneurial spirit during economic crisis, some use innovative ways to overcome disability, illness and prejudice, whilst others may combat stress through meditation. Writing is one of the ways I conquer tough times. So, if only to get it off my chest, I have to confess, I’m not feeling all that resilient at the moment. It’s all about terrorists in Cambridge. Let me explain.

Whilst my new-found Dawn voice has filled my inbox with support for how I have questioned the way that Pakistan is presented in the media, I have also had many messages from angry Pakistanis who consider my view of their nation nothing less than saccharin sweet pro-Pakistani-government-propaganda and at best they call my words empty and meaningless. Some say I should shut up altogether and worry about my own country. Many readers think I should be using my voice to challenge issues like censorship, child-labour, and corruption. This does not knock me off balance, I am no politician, no activist, merely a writer and thinker, observing alternative layers of reality – and it would go against my way of thinking to claim to be revealing any single noble truth. Besides, these correspondents raise important issues, and keep me grounded.

But there is another group of people who also think I am being too nice about Pakistan, and about Muslims (I also write for Muslim Voices). These guys aren’t quite as articulate. Not quite so friendly. And they have arrived where I live in dear old Cambridge. In England there is a rising tide of what local authorities are calling “white resentment”. Unemployment and economic difficulties (especially in young males), an increase in migration to Britain mainly from our former colonies, and a perception that somehow migrants are getting a better deal than them – have all been cited as drivers for recruitment to far-right thought. This week a group calling themselves the English Defence League have made a claim, so ridiculous I would laugh if I didn’t think it was potentially dangerous. They claim that Cambridge is alive with violent extremists, with misogynistic, homophobic Muslims – who hang out in the backrooms of the mosque to preach hatred.

The narrative is exasperating – I have spent time at the mosque and written about it, I know some of the committee members - the imam is a softly spoken Bosnian, their worshippers a smiling bunch who bake cakes and who celebrate their international community. Their resilience has also been tested this week by another group who call themselves, “Unite Against Fascism”. Their ethos is good (i.e. to unite against fascism), but there is a nasty history of violence between the two groups and their methods of ‘confronting’ the far-right too aggressive for some. 

But the main battle, as it ever was, is with the media. The Cambridge News let itself down this week with a front-page headline “Cambridge is in the grip of terrorists”. Not their words they say, but the words of the EDL. Sigh. It may be time to reel out my lessons on media responsibility.

So, the insults are flying, my inbox is filling up with yet more accusations of being a Paki-loving-traitor-to-my-nation alongside calls from Pakistanis to spell out the horrors of Pakistan or shut up. I remind myself that I chose my name, Jaine, meaning “to overcome”.

I DID promise to always focus on the good in my Dawn writings. And I hope next week I will be able to report that the good people of Cambridge peacefully and gently stood up to the EDL – and that they outnumbered them 1000 to one. Judging from the outrage on Facebook and Twitter I think that is highly likely. One of the more positive messages I received read: “I strongly believe that the people of Pakistan are the biggest asset that it has, and we should project them as such”. Let’s hope that goes for the people of Cambridge too this weekend.

Resilience is a complicated thing, and not always easy to define. Successful resilience is perhaps not always obvious. The Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary takes the definition further to include “the ability of people or things to feel better quickly after something unpleasant, such as shock, injury, etc”.

In Karachi shock and injury maybe more common than in Cambridge, but something unpleasant is certainly happening here.  When I was looking for connections between the two cities, I never in a million years imagined that it would be terrorism – and the media obsession with it. I am feeling in need of that resilience training myself now – for both my inbox and my local newspaper have become tough environments.