Was forced into phone ‘nikah’: Shoaib

Was forced into phone ‘nikah’: Shoaib


‘I was cheated….Sania knows everything’; wedding on April 15 in Hyderabad

Hyderabad, April 4 Breaking his silence over the controversy surrounding his alleged first marriage, Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik today said he was cheated and forced into a telephonic ‘nikah’ with Hyderabadi girl Ayesha Siddiqui eight years ago.

Projecting himself as a victim of impersonation, the former Pakistani captain said he had signed the ‘nikahnama’ (marriage document) in 2002 presuming that he was marrying the girl whose photographs were sent to him.

“The truth is that I have, to this day, not met the girl in the photograph. Ayesha Siddiqui was the girl who introduced herself as Maha Apa (or elder sister) of Ayesha. When I realised the fraud, it was the worst moment of my life. No one enjoys being cheated. I have been made a fool,” he said in a statement to the media here.

Asserting that ‘nikah’ over phone was not valid as per Islamic law, he said the question of divorce did not arise. Ayesha had earlier accused him of cheating her and demanded divorce. Addressing the media at the residence of his bride to-be and tennis star Sania Mirza, a nervous-looking Shoaib said their marriage would be held in Hyderabad on April 15 as originally planned.

He also made it clear that Sania would continue to play for India after marriage. “Sania knows the truth and has been supporting me through the ordeal. We are happy and the wedding arrangements are on,” he said.

The former Pakistani captain flew into the city on Friday to clear the air following Ayesha Siddiqui’s family slapping a legal notice on him for cheating, defamation and harassment and releasing copies of ‘nikahnama’ as a proof.

Shoaib has been staying at Sania’s house in the upmarket Jubilee Hills for the last two days, discussing marriage arrangements with her family. There are also reports that some of the influential friends of the Mirzas, including former cricketer V Chamundeswarnath, have been trying to mediate with the Siddiquis to sort out the matters amicably.

The fairytale, cross-border romance of the two sporting icons has attracted intense media attention. A battery of journalists from local and national newspapers and TV channels have been camping near Sania’s house, eager to get the sound bites from key players of the unfolding drama.

Giving a detailed account of his tryst with Ayesha and explaining how he was duped, Shoaib, in a two-page statement, claimed that she had starting making phone calls to him in 2001 claiming to be his fan. Later, she kept sending photographs of some other girl and constantly evaded meeting him.

“Every time I brought up the topic of meeting, she would send me a bunch of photographs. When I came to Hyderabad in 2002 to meet Ayesha, I was told that she had left for Saudi Arabia on some urgent work. She told me over phone that Rema and Maha Apa would take me around,” he said.

Later, her family told him that Ayesha was not keen on meeting him as she had put on lot of weight and that the photographs sent to him were old ones.

Shoaib said he was forced into marriage over telephone in June 2002. “We accidentally ran into the truth about who Ayesha was in August 2005. My brother-in-law got a photograph of a teacher in Saudi Arabia who was telling people around her that she is married to me. I was aghast when I saw the photograph of the teacher. She was the woman I knew as Maha Apa,” he said.

The cricketer claimed that Ayesha had apologised to him when he confronted her with the truth.