Hyderabad, April 13 (IANS) A day after Sania Mirza’s marriage with Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik, wedding ceremonies began at the residence of the Indian tennis ace here.
The bride and her bride-groom arrived at her residence in Jubliee Hills Tuesday, formally kicking up series of ceremonies. The couple stayed at Taj Krishna hotel after their ‘nikah‘ Monday afternoon.
Since Sania and her husband were paying first visit to the house after the marriage, they were given a traditional and warm welcome by her parents. Imran Mirza and his wife Naseema along with other family members came out of the house to receive the newly-wed couple.
‘Mehendi’, a pre-wedding ceremony, began Tuesday with the arrival of relatives and close friends of Sania and family members of Shoaib at Sania’s house, which has been decked up and illuminated for the occasion.
‘Sangeet’, a ceremony with musical programme, is scheduled to be held Wednesday while Sania’s family will host a gala wedding reception at the hotel. The bride’s uncle and Gazal singer Talat Aziz is set to perform at ‘Sangeet’.
Sources close to the family said since the two families advanced the ‘nikah’, the pre-wedding ceremonies like ‘mehendi’ were being held after the wedding.
Sources said the ‘nikah’ was advanced to avoid further controversies. Islamic scholars Sunday issued a ‘fatwa’ terming as un-Islamic the proximity between Sania and Shoaib before the marriage.
Sania’s family earlier stated that ‘nikah’ would take place April 15.
Shoaib, 28, wed the 23-year-old Sania at a brief and simple ceremony held at the hotel. Under ‘nikahnama’ or marriage contract, the former Pakistani skipper agreed to pay Rs.61 lakh as ‘mehr’ to Sania.
The Pakistani batsman last week divorced his first wife Ayesha Siddiqui after a bitter row surrounded the three families for a fortnight.
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Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik married Indian tennis star Sania Mirza at a "nikah" ceremony held at Hotel Taj Krishna in Hyderabad today, a spokesperson for the bride's family said.
"The 'nikah' is now completeed. Please pray for the couple," Rucha Nayak, the spokesperson told reporters outside the hotel.
Sania, 23, was clad in a red saree that her mother Nasima wore for her "nikah" 25 years ago, sources said. The 28-year-old former Pakistan cricket captain wore a black sherwani designed by Shantanu and Nikhil, they said.
The media was taken a bit by surprise when the two families announced this morning that the wedding would take place today. Earlier, there were reports that the ceremony would take place on April 9. Another version said the wedding would take place on the morning of the reception, scheduled for April 15.
According to the sources, the "mehandi" ceremony will take place tomorrow and the "sangeet" the day after.
The two sports stars had surprised their fans by announcing on March 29 that they were getting married. Only weeks earlier, Sania had opted out of an engagement to Sohrab Mirza, also of Hyderabad, citing reasons of incompatibility.
It was a stormy run-up to the wedding, with a Hyderabad girl, Ayesha Siddiqui, in her mid-30s, saying that Shoaib had married her in 2002.
What followed was an emotional roller-coaster ride for all concerned for a full week, with all of India and Pakistan watching spell-bound.
Shoaib denied he had married Ayesha and maintained that he, in fact, had never met her.
Ayesha insisted she had been married to him and that they had shared an intimate relationship and claimed she had evidence to back all this up. She filed a complaint with the police, and they turned up at Sania's house to question Shoaib. They also impounded his passport and mobile phone.
Ayesha claimed Shoaib had lost interest in her because she had become obese. All she wanted, she said, was a divorce so that she could move on in her life. Shoaib, of course, said there could be no divorce, because there had been no marriage in the first place.
Imran Qadri, a community elder in the Indian city of Hyderabad, said Malik divorced Ayesha Siddiqui on Wednesday.
The Siddiqui family have now withdrawn a police complaint against Malik over his plans to wed Mirza, Mr Qadri said.
Shoaib signed the talaq nama (divorce papers) after leaders said that the public splashing and scrutiny of the episode had brought a bad name to the community.
The police complaint against Shoaib was taken back and it was agreed that the cricketer would pay a maintenance amount of Rs.15, 000 paid to Ayesha as per Islamic law
Ayesha’s mother expressed relief and said her daughter had finally received justice.
“My daughter wanted a divorce without money and that has happened. Malik has come clean and I am very happy and relieved that finally he gave a divorce. The charges on him have been withdrawn. The complaint application has been withdrawn,” she added
There was no immediate comment from Malik or Mirza. He had accused the Siddiqui family of deceiving him.
As Ayesha continue with her tirade of allegations, Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik is drawing support from his former team-mates, with other sports personalities of Pakistan as well as film stars throwing their support behind Shoaib’s innocence.
Coming out strongly in favour of Shoaib, his former teammate and ex-cricket team captain Rashid Latif said the Ayesha shown on TV was not the not his colleague had fallen in love with.
“Shoaib Malik used to borrow my laptop for chatting with a girl and he did show me a few pictures of her. I can assure you that the girl I saw in pictures is not the one on TV these days,” Latif was quoted in media reports from Pakistan.
“I can go to any forum including a court of law to reiterate my statement, and I appeal to all cricketers to stand by Shoaib Malik on this issue,” he added.
Pakistani hockey player Rehan Butt has also come out in defence of Shoaib.
“This is another instance of where the Indian media is holding a media trial of Malik without knowing the truth. He has gone there to marry an Indian girl and that is something they can’t digest,” Butt said.
Star actor Saud has urged the media to let Shoaib and his would-be-bride Sania Mirza settle the matters alone.
“It is a personal matter involving Malik, Mirza and even Ayesha. It is something they have to resolve among themselves. Why spoil their happiness?” asked Saud.
Actress Meera, on the other hand, maintained that the media coverage on Ayesha’s allegations has helped garner support for Shoaib in India.
“The way he is being portrayed in the Indian media, there is a lot of sympathy for him now,” she said.
Hyderabad girl Ayesha and her family have claimed that Shoaib had married her over phone but later dumped her due to 'weight issues'.
The cricketer has been maintaining that Ayesha’s family had cheated him by sending photographs of a different girl and he had backed out when he found out that he had been duped.
Ayesha has moved criminal proceedings against Shoaib and the later has also been questioned at the Mirzas residence at Hyderabad on Monday.
Shoaib and Sania are scheduled to tie the knot on April 15 at Hyderabad.
The Shoaib Malik - Ayesha Siddiqui case is growing bigger than the media frenzy surrounding it. It is now known that as many as 5 teams of the Central Crime Station (CCS), a special unit of Andhra Pradesh police forces, have been set up to investigate the claims Ayesha Siddiqui has made on Shoaib Malik.
One team will question Ayesha Siddiqui and record all her allegations, focusing on getting her version of the story. Another team will investigate medical grounds. It will gather and examine all medical proofs of pregnancy presented by Ayesha, followed by Shoaib's connection, if any, with them. A third team will look for proofs of stay in the hotels where the cricketer allegedly checked in with Ayesha.
A fourth team will follow Shoaib's version of the story and investigate any supporting evidence. A final team is said to head to the Middle East to get information of the couple’s alleged trysts in the UAE and in the nearby region.
Malik, who had earlier asked his lawyer not to file for anticipatory bail since he was cooperating with the Hyderabad police's investigations, said he might go for an anticipatory bail if he will be questioned again on Tuesday.
Shoaib Malik's brother-in-law is expected to land in Hyderabad today, and his immediate family will follow tomorrow.
Addressing the media in Hyderabad on Monday evening along with Malik, Sania backed Shoaib and declared that their marriage would take place as scheduled on April 15.
"I am standing by my future husband to clear his name," she said.
"There is no reason for the marriage to be postponed. It will take place on April 15. If there is any change we will inform you. I am standing here by my future husband to clear his name.
"All our well-wishers are shocked by this. The entire drama has left a very bad taste in our mouths. Shoaib never misled me or any members of my family. There was never a marriage, so there is no question of divorce. We are well aware of what the truth is," she added.
Shoaib asked Ayesha to come out in the open and present her defence.
"Why is Ayesha not coming out in the open. Why is she making statements against me behind camera," he said, adding he will not apologise to Ayesha over her claims that he had cheated on her after she was married to him.
"The Siddiquis are doing all this for cheap publicity," he said.
Earlier in the day, the Hyderabad police seized Shoaib's passport and asked him not to leave the country.
Twenty-nine-year-old Ayesha was also questioned by the police, which is trying to verify authenticity of the nikahnama, cited by the Siddiqui family, and a photo of her with the 28-year-old Shoaib.
Awaz Apni LAHORE: Former captain of Pakistan cricket team Shoaib Malik has started consultations with his lawyer for going to court against Ayesha Siddiqui and her father Mohammad Ahmed Siddiqui who claim that Ayesha is Shoaib’s wife..
Shoaib’s brother-in-law Imran Zafar Malik told Geo News that they have contacted with a lawyer Ramish Gupta in New Delhi to take a legal action against the Siddiqui family.
He said that Ramish Gupta has been the president of the Delhi High Court Bar Association.
He further said that they would now not remain silent on this issue.
He said that the photograph of the girl the Siddiqui Family showed to Shaoib Malik was not of Ayesha and this fraud was the reason of breaking of Shoaib’s engagement with Ayesha.
