Indian soldiers get life in jail for Kashmir killings

NEW DELHI, Nov 13 AFP/BSS: An Indian military court has sentenced seven soldiers to life in prison for killing three Kashmiri youths in a rare ruling against the army, the tense region's top official said Thursday.  

Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the soldiers shot dead the youths in 2010 after staging a gun battle and claiming they were trying to sneak across the disputed border from arch rival Pakistan.  "This is a watershed moment.

No one in Kashmir ever believed that justice would be done in such cases. Faith in institutions disappeared," Abdullah said in a Tweet.  Rights groups have long accused the thousands of Indian soldiers deployed in Kashmir of acting with impunity, as they search for militants fighting against Indian rule for independence or merger of the region with Pakistan.