A WEDDING and a previous marriage and divorce involving two sports celebrities from India and Pakistan have enthralled both countries over the past week.
Millions drooled over each salacious detail that emerged in this over-the-top saga involving Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik (28), and attractive Indian tennis star Sania Mirza (23), whose short skirts have drawn the ire of Islamist groups in India.
Add histrionics, a breathless media, Islamic law and two antagonistic governments and the tale becomes juicier than a Bollywood potboiler. Matters came to a head yesterday in Hyderabad in southern India after the planned wedding on April 15th between Malik and Mirza came back on track after the former Pakistani cricket captain finally “divorced” another girl in the same town amid anxiety and speculation.
The split, brokered by family elders and overseen by Muslim clerics, ended a complex tale during which Malik denied ever having married Ayesha Siddiqui, another Hyderabad woman, in 2001. After Malik and Mirza announced their planned wedding last week, Siddiqui launched a range of accusations against the cricketer, saying he was married to her but that he had shunned her because she was overweight.
With her parents she claimed to have confirmed the marriage by signing a nikahnama(Muslim wedding agreement) with Malik. Earlier this week she lodged a complaint with Hyderabad police claiming to have been deserted, prompting officers to quiz Malik and confiscate his passport.
This triggered adverse reaction from the Pakistani government, with foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi promising all support to Malik and querying the Indian government’s right to detain and interrogate one of their star citizens on flimsy charges.
Malik, meanwhile, changed his account each time he faced television cameras outside his new fiancee’s home, where he arrived unannounced last weekend.
He accused Siddiqui of lying to gain “cheap popularity”, but also admitted to having agreed to marry Ayesha nine years ago over the telephone – a provision permitted in Islam – after being shown her picture, and also to signing the marriage contract.
On arriving in Hyderabad to wed the Indian tennis star he claimed he had been duped.
Divorce papers have since been signed, Siddiqui’s mother said, and the authorities announced yesterday the police case against Malik has been withdrawn.