Hong Kong: Despite tightening of security and immigration measures following the September 11 terror attacks, Hong Kong has not adopted racial profiling of South Asians including Indians, officials said on October 7.

"Our enhanced security and immigration procedures does not target people from any particular region," a Hong Kong official said reacting to concerns expressed by leading members of the Indian and South Asian communities.

In two separate incidents in the first half of this year, renowned Indian writer Amit Chaudhuri and classical singer Shubha Mudgal were "detained" by Hong Kong immigration and were subjected to questioning.

"There may be some individual cases. However, there is no such policy as racial targeting of South Asians," assistant commissioner for tourism of the government of the Hong Kong special administrative region, Winnie W Ho said on October 7.

"Hong Kong runs a very liberal visa regime. Nationals of over 170 countries can visit Hong Kong, visa free for visits ranging from seven days to six months," she said adding Indian citizens can stay in the country for two weeks without a visa.

"We warmly welcome Indian visitors to Hong Kong, who constitute a major chunk of inbound tourists from South Asia," Bonnie Ngan, general manager, (corporate communications and public relations), Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) said.

The number of Indian visitors to Hong Kong in August rose to 15,776, up 11.1 per cent when compared with August 2001 when 14,204 Indians visited the territory, a HKTB statistics reported this on October 7.

PTI