LAHORE: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has expressed its concern at the desecration of graves of a religious minority and sought attention of the government towards its legal duty of protecting religious as well as burial sites of minorities.

`HRCP reminds the state that it is legally bound under the 2014 Supreme Court judgment to protect not only reli-gious minorities` sites of worship but also their burial sites,` says an official post of the rights body on X (formerly Twitter).

`In this context, the continued desecration of Ahmadiyya graves-with about 40 tombstones reportedly vandalised in Sheikhupura between 21 and 24 January-is reprehensible, it says, adding. `The local administration must be directed to take action against the perpetrators and also ensure that hate speech inciting such acts is stringently penalised.