Author: Agencies
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: February 01, 2008
URL: http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Shoaib-Malik-in-knotty-affair-over-Indian-bride/267857/
The father of a Hyderabadi girl whose love
story involving Pakistani cricket captain Shoaib Malik went sour contested
his claim that the couple did not enter into a 'nikah' and pressed the player
to give a "formal divorce."
M A Siddiqui in a statement said the family
will move the court if his daughter does not get divorce which was needed
to help her start a "new life."
He was reacting to Malik's statement in Karachi
on January 21 when the cricketer claimed that no 'nikah' took place between
him and Ayesha Siddiqui.
"The 'nikah' of my daughter (Ayesha)
with Shoaib Malik took place on June 3, 2002. We also have the proof,"
said Siddiqui amid reports that the couple got 'married' through a telephone
'nikah' on that date.
Siddiqui, a resident of posh Banjara Hills
in the Andhra Pradesh capital, also challenged Malik's claims that his marriage
plans with the Hyderabadi girl ended because both families could not reach
an understanding on certain issues.
"Yes I had a long relationship with her
and we planned to get married. But no nikah ever took place and in the end
our families could not reach an understanding on various things," Malik
had said.
Siddiqui alleged Malik wanted to end the relationship
not for the reasons he had stated but "just to gain goodwill and build
his image."
Siddiqui said his daughter is "devastated
and traumatised" by the whole issue and claimed she was hospitalised
many times.
Siddiqui claimed that his family called Malik
and his family umpteen times but they "refused to talk to us."
"Shoaib Malik never tried to even talk
to us even once. This behaviour has saddened deeply," he said.
On his daughter's future, he cited a media
report quoting a Maulvi as saying that rightly his daughter needed a "divorce"
in order to start a "new life".
Pakistani players were even feted to a grand
reception by the Siddiqui family in Hyderabad when the team toured Indian
in 2005.
