The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 125

CALIFORNIA B3 LOSANGELESTIMES TODAY Aircraft display: Warbirds, home-built airplanes, new sports planes, helicopters, race cars and antique autos will be on display. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Free. Fullerton Municipal Airport, West Commonwealth and Magnolia avenues, Fullerton. (714) 871-7997.

Organ concert: George Wright, Bob Mitchell, LynLarsen, Stan Kannand Ralph Wolf perform. 2:30 p.m. $20. Plummer Auditorium, 201 E. Chapman, Fullerton.

(714) 870-2813. Tour: Docents will lead tours through the Historic Bradford House, built in 1902. 2-4 p.m. $3 donation. 136 Palm Circle, Placentia.

(714) 993-2470. Exhibit: is a group exhibition by ceramic studio art partici- pants, and by Jeffrey Frischis and installation of fantasy sailing vessels made of unrelated elements. Check website for hours. Free. Irvine Fine Arts Center, 14321 Yale Irvine.

(949) 724-6880 or www.irvinefinearts.com MONDAY Grants: to Access workshops. 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Free. Christ Our Redeemer AME Church, 46 Maxwell, Irvine. (949) 955-0014.

Forum: The UC Irvine Psychiatry and Spirituality Forum hosts the of a Contemplative Science of the lecture. Noon-1 p.m. Free. UCI Medical Center Campus, Building 53, 101 The City Drive South, Orange. (949) 824-6455 or www.uci.edu Cypress: City Council meeting.

7 p.m. Council Chambers, 5275 Orange Ave. (714) 229-6683 or www.ci.cypress.ca.us Seal Beach: City Council meeting. 7 p.m. Council Chambers, 211 8th St.

(562) 431-2527 or www.ci.seal-beach.ca.us ONGOING Exhibit: the Mission: A features Emet photographs of Mission San Juan Capistrano. 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Ortega Highway. (949) 234-1300 or www.missionsjc.com Theater: Siblings confront family animosities and lies in the Orange Curtain presentation of and by AtholFugard. Check the website for showtimes.

$18. The Orange Curtain Theater, 31776 El Camino Real, San Juan Capistrano. (949) 412-3252 or www.theorangecurtaintheatre.org Theater: The Brea Youth Theatre presents the musical and the Amazing Technicolor Call for showtimes. $12. Curtis Theatre, 1 Civic Center Circle, Brea.

(714) 990-7722 or www.ci.brea.ca.us Exhibit: The Newport Beach City Art Commission presents Beach Apres Nuit: Night featuring black and white photographs by local architect and artist George Seitz.Open during library hours. Free. (949) 717-3870 or www.city.newport-beach.ca.us Theater: In by Bob Clyman, an African student seeks hypnosis to relieve panic attacks after a horrible incident in her home country while her doctor fights the ethical and political dilemmas of treating her. Call for showtimes or tickets. Laguna Playhouse Moulton Theater, 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach.

(949) 497-2787 or www.lagunaplayhouse.com Ice skating: The Holiday on Ice skating rink is open from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. $4 for skate rental. Irvine Spectrum, Fortune Drive at Enterprise. (949) 748-8280 or www.skatespectrum.com Exhibit: Cup of Cold Water features professor Jerry photographs of women and children in India.

Call for hours. Irvine Valley College Art Gallery, 5500 Irvine Center Drive. (949) 451-5275 or www.ivc.edu Exhibit: to features recent works by Viredo recalling the early years of Piet work. Call for hours. Free.

Old Town Gallery, 150 E. Main Tustin. (714) 734-9088 or www.tustinoldtowngallery.com Art: Sylvia features a collection of abstract landscapes of Earth. Hours vary. Free.

Marion Meyer Contemporary Art, 354 N. Coast Highway, Laguna Beach. (949) 497-5442 or www.marionmeyergallery.com Balloon rides: The Great Park Balloon soars to 500 feet for a view of the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. 10 a.m.-3 p.m.; 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Free.

Great Park Balloon, 5 Freeway at Sand Canyon Avenue, Irvine. (866) 8293829 or www.greatparkballoon.org The Orange County calendar is compiled by Nardine Saad. Submit items two weeks in advance to or by fax to (714) 966-7711. Orange County Calendar I a nondescript strip mall in Inglewood, the political debate was as heated as the chilies in Arif Malik fragrant Pakistani curries. As customers gathered at Bilal restaurant, where Pakistani satellite TV piped out religious advice from an Urdu-speaking imam, the talk was of dictators, death and democracy.

Farooq Aziz, a 48-year-old Los Angeles accountant, recently returned from Pakistan, where he said he rallied outside the presidential palace in Islamabad to protest President Pervez recent political crackdown. Western nations have propped up dictatorial military rule for too long, he fumed, slowing his democratic progress. Bilal Awan, a 21-year-old Cal State Fullerton student who helps out in his restaurant, said the bigger shock was the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto late last month. His aunt burst into tears, he said, wailing about the irreplaceable loss of a great leader and daughter of Pakistan. a great leader steps up to do something in Pakistan, they allowed Awan glumly said.

either get stopped halfway or are The South Asian recent political turmoil has stunned many of Southern Pakistani Americans, sparking passionate and politically diverse exchanges online, in community newspapers and in gathering places like Bilal restaurant. Opinions are sharply divided on whether Bhutto was a heroine or a as one critic put it; whether Musharraf isa dictator or best hope for progress, as Pakistan Link editor Akhtar Mahmud Faruqui argues. feel he is the best man to take Pakistan out of the present Faruqui said of Musharraf, praising what he views as the former honesty and promotion of education, science and technology. is needed, of course, but if you want to take care of terrorism, you need a strong Whatever their political views, many Pakistani Americans said they fearthat the political chaos, Mushar- and assassination have worsened perceptions of a community already under siege from the fallout of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Hasan Shirazi, a Los Angeles banker, said it was bad enough a few years ago, when he went to volunteer in a Compton elementary school classroom and asked the students what they knew about Pakistan. He was startled when one student responded, where Osama bin Laden is assassination has fur- theredperceptions of Pakistan as an extremist nation, he said. But Pakistani Americans like Shi- razi say their homeland is in fact a place of moderation and hospitality, whose people first elected a female leader two decades ago, never gave religious political parties wide support, are crazy about cricket and haveem- braced American shows like Mutant Ninja dubbed in Urdu. community is under scrutiny now, but I see it as an opportunity to engage with the broader public and share our common Shirazi said during a conversation with fellow members of the Council of Pakistan American Affairs, which aims to promote ties between the U.S. and Pakistan.

Those common values were repeatedly voiced in interviews last week at Pakistani American restaurants, homesand shops and a mosque in the South Bay, where many of the members live. Almost everyone interviewed had a story of being stopped at airports for security checks, hassled at school or work, of facing business slowdowns or being mistaken for an Arab or Mexican. But they also extolled the kindness of neighbors, the quality of public services and American freedom and democracy political values they say they want Pakistan to have. Hawthorne shopkeepers Arif and Amena Ebrahim, for instance, said their son lost many friends at his Torrance high school after and was accused of being linked with a terrorist country. But Arif Ebrahim remains bullish on America, saying he received great healthcare during recent surgeries, public schooling and aid for his disabled daughter and abundant economic opportunities as a cashier, airport security officer and now small- business owner.

The hodgepodge of products in his store includes Islamic art, Pakistani traditional clothing and jewelry. But it was with the American flag that Ebrahim wanted to be photographed. love said Ebrahim, a Karachi native who came to Los Angeles in 2000 after waiting a decade for a family visa sponsored by his brother. can enjoy their life A2005 demographic profile by the Asian Pacific American Legal Center in Los Angeles paints a picture of Pakistani American community as relatively small, highly educated and solidly middle-class. The study, based on the 2000 Census, foundthat Californians of Pakistani descent numbered about 28,000, doublethe population of 1990.Community members say the figure now surpasses 40,000.

Thedata showed that had undergraduate or graduate degrees, the second highest rate after Indian Americans among 16 Asian subgroups examined. Nearly half were homeowners, with the median household income about $49,000, on par with the statewide average. Two-thirds were immigrants, with a naturalization rate, and the majority were fluent English speakers. Manan Ahmed, a University of Chicago doctoral candidate in the history of Islam and South Asia, said the first wave of Pakistani immigrants to the United States in the late 1960s and 1970s were highly educated professionals. His father, an engineer, was among them.

The 1980s and early 1990s sawa second group of less educated immigrants taxi drivers, restaurant workers and other blue-collar laborers. Many of them settled on the East Coast, gaining entry through programs like the U.S. diversity lottery, which awards visas to nations with relatively low rates of immigration, Ahmed said. In the mid- to late 1990s, Ahmed said, a surge of immigrants began heading for Silicon Valley to work in high-tech industries. But the immigrant population has fallen since Ahmed said.

Some people were deported on immigration violations during the special registration of men from Pakistan and other predominantly Muslim nations, he said. Some left on their own. Meanwhile, the U.S. government significantly reduced the number of visas for new entrants from Pakistan. According to U.S.

government data, the number of visas issued to workers and other nonimmigrant temporary visitors from Pakistan declined by more than half, from 89,000 in 2000 to 39,000 in 2006. Student visas also declined by about half, and the Institute of International Education reported this year that the Pakistani student population fell from 8,644 in 2001 to 5,401 in 2006. The number of immigrant visas issued also dropped, from 10,256 in 2000 to 7,675 in 2006. And Pakistan was deemed ineligible for diversity visas in 2002. Those who remain, community members said, have encountered their share of difficulties.

Hamid Khan, executive director of the Artesia-based South Asian Network, said his community service organization has fielded a sharp rise in complaints of hate crimes and job and housing discrimination since Pakistani community is under he said. Shahid Raja, a Karachi native and Torrance resident, said his food import business folded after because the U.S. government began holding up his shipments of Pakistani spices and other products for months. Raja became a cab driver instead but, he said, had to endure tirades from passengers and even attacks on his vehicle when they learned he was a Pakistani Muslim. At Bilal restaurant, owner Awan said his business dropped by half after but has since recovered.

His son, Bilal, said he and his friends were called and other names at school.He said girls were intimidated from wearing the Islamic headdress and his own mother stopped wearing traditional South Asian clothing. She now wears jeans, he said. had to change our way of Bilal Awan said, adding that he still perceives bias when applying for jobs. Anam Syed, a 21-year-old UC Riverside student, said the current focus on Pakistan has forced her to her ethnicity as a Pakistan native rather than just a typical college student. That is not a particularly pleasant prospect, she said, given widespread ignorance about Pakistan among some Americans who erroneously believe it is a militant, Arabic-speaking Mideast country.

has always been moderate, so it is difficult to move amongst people whose only concept of Pakistan consists of dictators and she said. Others say been blessed by kindness. Whittier resident Suhail Sid- diqi said, for instance, that his Jewish neighbor offered to walk with his wife on her daily strolls for protection. At the Momin Lodge, an Islamic center servingmostly Pakistanis on Artesia Boulevard in Torrance, Imam Hasan ud-Din Hashmi said the broad- er community has reached out to his congregation. After the Torrance police chief came out to assure the community that it would be protected.

Christians and Jews pledged their support. And city planners have been cooperative in dealing with the plans to build a $10-million Islamic center with a new mosque, school, library and conference room. Ajmal Mohammad, a cardiologist and graduate student in health education who attended Momin Friday prayer service, said Southern California has been good to his family compared with his previous home in Kansas, where stares were more common. Here, he said, the cosmopolitan populace, ethnic grocery stores and community centers like Momin Lodge have made life pleasant. The sense that Pakistan stands at a defining historical moment has energized even young Pakistani Americans into embracing a new curiosity about their homeland, University of Chicago scholar Ahmed said, evidenced by an explosion of Pakistan-related Face- book groups, YouTube videos and other online activity.

I was like an average Pakistani living in Pakistan who did not care about Pakistani or international said Ahmad Bashir, 24, aUCLA graduate who immigrated to the United States five years ago. Today, he said, he follows Pakistani politics day to Despite the diverse opinions, nearly everyone voiced a common de- sirefor democracy and progress to come to Pakistan, for elections next month to be truly free and fair. is supposed to be like America, with said shopkeeper Ebrahim. is my Editorial assistant Shazia Haq contributed to this report. teresa.watanabe@latimes.com LIFE IN THE U.S.: Amena Ebrahim, left, and Haleema Ebrahim work at the Best Deal shop in Hawthorne.

Amena son lost friends in high school and was accused of being linked with a terrorist country after attacks. Photographs by Francine Orr Los Angeles Times SUPPLICATION: Uzma Vaid prays at Momin Lodge in Torrance. Many Pakistani Americans said they want to see American-style democracy replace the political upheaval going on in their homeland. GROWTH TREND: Imam Hasan ud-Din Hashmi speaks at the mostly Pakistani Momin Lodge in Torrance, where plans are underway to build a $10-million Islamic center with a new mosque, school and library. In a new home, but fearing for old one Political turmoil worries Pakistani Americans, who find peace and opportunity in U.S., but also misperceptions and prejudice.

is supposed to be like America, with democracy. This is my RIF BRAHIM Torrance shopkeeper By Teresa Watanabe Times Staff Writer.