Sania Wedding: Controversy Worsens

Ayesha Siddiqui, who has been claiming that she was married to Shoaib Malik, produced her nikaah-nama (engagement certificate) to prove her wedding.

The nikaah, said to have happened on June 3, 2002, showed that the ceremony took place in Shoaib's hometown, Sailkot in Pakistan. Besides names of two local witnesses, it has the signatures of Maha (alias Ayesha) Siddiqui as the bride and quite an illegible signature that is claimed to be that of Shoaib.

According to Shoaib's brother-in-law Imran Zafar, Shoaib was duped. He was initially sent pictures of a "beautiful" girl from Ayesha's email id, whom Shoaib fell madly in love with, but he was talking to another girl over the phone, Maha Siddiqui. It was under this impression that the nikaah between Shoaib and Ayesha was performed on the telephone. He found out about the mix-up when he visited Hyderabad for a cricket tournament during Pakistan's tour of India in 2005.

Ayesha states that she was named Ayesha by her grandmother, but her official name is Maha, and therefore both names refer to the same person. She went on to say Shoaib rejected her because "she was fat", and that he suddenly seemed to be getting a lot of attention from other girls.

Ayesha says she has nothing against Sania Mirza, to whom Shoaib is getting married to on April 15 this year, but wants an official divorce from him and that it be showed in public.

Malik's family, which has been refuting reports of the marriage ever since the controversy began, say they are going to reveal the real Ayesha's photographs, in reply to the nikaah-nama released by Ayesha Siddiqui.