Pro-India militants get life term

A court in Indian-administered Kashmir has sentenced three pro-Indian militants to life imprisonment for murdering a forestry official six years ago.

The French news agency, AFP, said the men had kidnapped the forestry official, wrapped him in polythene and set him on fire.

This is the first time that a court has handed down a jail sentence to members of the Ikhwan militia, which is made up of former separatist fighters working alongside the Indian military.

The new Kashmiri chief minister , Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, took office a week ago, promising to rein in abuses committed by the security forces.

(From the newsroom of BBC World Service)