Hyderabad , April 7: What reportedly started off with one telephone call ended with another on Wednesday. After denying his “telephonic” marriage to Hyderabad girl Ayesha Siddiqui for more than two years, a desperate Shoaib Malik did a U-turn and divorced her.
It is learnt that after the compromise was worked out, Shoaib, who was staying at Sania’s residence, called Ayesha and pronounced “talaaq” thrice over the telephone.
This clears the way for Shoaib to go ahead with his marriage with tennis star Sania Mirza, scheduled for April 15. The divorce papers were signed both by Shoaib and Ayesha early Wednesday morning after night-long negotiations brokered by community leaders that concluded by 7 am. The call came a day after Shoaib and Sania stoutly denied that the marriage had ever taken place.
“Finally justice has been done to my daughter and she is relieved and very happy,” said Ayesha’s mother, Mrs Farisa Siddiqui. “She laughed after a long time.”
All is not over as Shoaib and Ayesha have to visit the Central crime station and submit in writing that they have reached a compromise. They also have to appear before a Lok Adalat to register their truce. It is possible that they will come face to face while completing the legal formalities.
Even as this was on, one of his friends in Islamabad admitted it was the cricketer who had lied all through, and not the Hyderabad girl.
“The wedding did take place,” Ameen Shaikh, a family friend, told this newspaper. He said the photographs of the bride that the Malik family showed in the first instance were of Ayesha. “They were not fake. Shoaib denied the marriage as he has been under pressure. Ayesha was not lying.”
“Shoaib will pay Rs 15,000 as maintenance to Ayesha at the rate of Rs 5,000 per month for three months, as per Shariah (Islamic law),” said Mr Abid Rasool Khan, APCC general secretary and a well-wisher of both families.
Mr Rasool Khan addressed a press conference in the presence of Ayesha’s mother and Sania’s uncle, Mohammad Shafi. He said all police cases against Shoaib will be withdrawn. Ayesha’s family had already filed an application with the police for withdrawing their complaint, he disclosed.
Ayesha’s family had demanded a divorce, without any money, from Shoaib, claiming that the two were married over the phone in 2002. They said Shoaib had later dumped her since she was overweight.
Shoaib, on the other hand, had maintained all along that the Siddiquis had duped him by sending photographs of a different girl whom he had agreed to marry. When the Siddiquis came out with a nikahnama, Shoaib said it was fraudulently acquired.
But the case, the flurry of protests by women’s organisations and the legal tangles apparently changed Shoaib’s mind. “As decided by the elders of the community, the compromise has been done,” said Mrs Farisa Siddiqui. “Though it’s an irony that I am feeling happy on my daughter’s divorce, the fact is that the marriage caused untold agony for her.”
A report from Lahore said Shoaib’s relatives had left for India to attend his marriage. The marriage party includes Shoaib’s mother Sultana Farooq, brother Adil Malik, sisters Shazia Imran and Sadaf Imran, nephew Mamoon Imran and niece Zainab Imran. Mr Adil Malik said, “Inshallah, everything will be done in Punjabi style. We will do the bhangra. We are Punjabis, so we’ll definitely do that.”
Age Correspondent