COAS visits SSG HQ in show of solidarity with Musharraf.

KARACHI -- A day after General (retd) Pervez Musharraf who hailed from the elite Special Services Group of the Pakistan Army was sentenced to death by a special court on treason charges, army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa visited the SSG Headquarters in what appears to be a show of solidarity with the former chief of army staff. 'We have brought stability by failing all inimical forces operating against Pakistan. We shall never let it go away at any cost, ' Gen Qamar said during the visit to the SSG Headquarters in Tarbela on Wednesday. '[The] SSG is our pride with myriad contributions towards defence of [the] country through its valiant officers and soldiers since the creation of Pakistan, ' he was quoted as saying by the director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) in a tweet.

The SSG which is also known as the Maroon Berets due to their distinctive headgear, or simply commando force is the elite special operations force mandated with their five primary tasks: foreign internal defence, reconnaissance, direct actions, counter-terrorism, and their most important task, unconventional warfare. Musharraf had joined the SSG shortly after the end of the 1965 war. He had served the elite force from 1966 to1972 - the period during which he was first promoted to captain and then to major rank. During the 1971 war, he was the company commander of an SSG commando battalion. Gen Qamar's visit came a day after a three-judge special court convicted Musharraf of treason and sentenced...