Tense wait for Bakhtiyaris

CANBERRA: THEY have been given suitcases but not their departure date.

But the Bakhtiyaris' five-year bid to be granted refugee status could end as soon as today with their deportation from Australia.

The family had a long and tiring weekend waiting in fear of deportation but the guards never came.

The high-profile family of eight now face a tense week, waiting to hear if they will be deported.

Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone refused to comment on a departure date, confirming only that "arrangements are still being finalised".

But a spokesman for Senator Vanstone said the family would leave Australia as soon as possible, without giving any further details.

Roqia Bakhtiyari and children Alamdar, 16, Montazer, 14, Nagina, 12, Samina, 10, Amina, 7, and Mazhar, 14 months, were taken from their Dulwich house at 7am on December 18 to the residential housing project at Port Augusta.

Their father, Ali Bakhtiyari, has been at Baxter Detention Centre for about two years.

Father Greg O'Kelly, headmaster of Saint Ignatius College where Alamdar and Montazer studied, and Centacare worker Pauline Frick visited the family at Baxter yesterday but could offer little hope.

"Alamdar and Monty are just disillusioned with our country and disillusioned with the idea of hope in life," Father O'Kelly said.

"They were building something within themselves in their education and this is dismantled.

"There is nothing quite so vulnerable or so powerless as an asylum-seeker. It's devastating and it affronts me as an Australian that we inflict such pain on a family of six children."

Father O'Kelly said the family had not been told when they would be deported and were packing in the face of rumours about their imminent departure.

"They have been told nothing," he said. "They have been given suitcases, but they have not been told to pack."

The family's imminent deportation comes after years of legal action to stay in Australia, with the family arguing they are from Afghanistan and not Pakistan.

Supporters believe the family will be deported this week to Pakistan. The family were given suitcases on Friday.