Kyrgyzstan appoints Malayali as Major General

Shaikh Rafik Mohammed, a native of Kerala, has been appointed as the Major General of Kyrgyzstan by Defence Minister, Ali Mirza in an official ceremony recently. He is a Saudi-based entrepreneur who has been appointed to this top level military position in view of his commendable earlier contribution to this central Asian nation. 

Rafik is the Chairman of Gammon Group operating in Asia, Middle East, North Africa, and Europe and his family live in Dubai. He was conferred with Kyrgyzstan nationality by the former President of the country Kurmanbek Saliyevich Bakiyev. 

According to a Khaleej Times report, Rafik was conferred with the military position at an official function held at the Kyrgyzstan military head office as confirmed by media advisor of Rafik, Omar Abu Baker. 

As per the report, Rafik migrated from Calicut in Kerala at a young age even before completing his fifth-grade. Before heading to the Middle East, he was in Mumbai where he learned about business and its operations. In the Middle East, he worked in UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Kyrgyzstan before becoming the first Malayali to hold such high military rank in any central Asian country. 

Previously, Rafik was also an advisor to the former Kyrgyzstan President between 2005 and 2010 who conferred him the nationality. According to the media advisor, the President met Rafik in his 20s when he was working in Iran and developing a major steel plant. 

Rafik sold the steel plant project to the then Iranian government and then presented a similar project to the then Governor Bakiyev preparing for the presidential elections. The Governor promised Rafik that the project would get approval once he wins the election. When he won the election, Rafik's project not only got approval, but he also got appointed as the chief advisor to the president. 

From here on, Rafik's popularity started soaring, and his work in various areas of development, investment, and business made him a prominent figure in the country. 

Rafik during his time as an advisor ensured that this young nation draws good foreign investment and also worked on developing a capitalist mode of production to earn more revenues. After this, Rafik was invited to Saudi Arabia for developing various projects on Dubai's free zone model reported Khaleej Times. 

The Middle East region has many Malayali and Indian origin businessmen who have contributed to the growth and development of this region. However, this is the first time when a person of Indian origin has earned such high position in any government in a central Asian country.

• Kyrgyzstan
• Major General
• Malayali
• Shaikh Rafik Mohammed
• Kerala
• Calicut