Canberra, Aug 25: The government announced today it is investigating hundreds of refugees suspected to have lied about being Afghans to gain asylum in Australia.

Immigration minister Philip Ruddock said 700 of the 4,000 people who have been granted temporary refugee visas in recent years after claiming they fled Afghanistan are under investigation. Ruddock told Australian Broadcasting Corp. Television he already had "very firm evidence" that about 40 of the refugees were actually from Pakistan and that "a number" of visas had been canceled as a result of the investigations.

People from Afghanistan generally stand a far better chance of gaining refugee status in Australia than those from Pakistan. Among those likely to have their visas canceled is Ali Baktiari, who made world headlines last month when his two young sons tried to claim asylum in a British consulate after escaping from an Australian illegal immigrant detention center.

The boys' applications were rejected, and British authorities turned them over to Australian officials. Following the high profile case, Ruddock said Baktiari, who already had been granted asylum, was under investigation for lying about his past. Baktiari has since told a newspaper that he was living in Pakistan before fleeing to Australia, not Afghanistan as he claimed on his asylum application.

Ruddock said he also had evidence Baktiari did not come directly from Afghanistan to Australia.

Bureau Report