Indian tennis star Sania Mirza’s plans to wed Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik has run into deuce with neither of the doubles partners Sania or Shoaib being able to score a winning point.
The big question being asked is will Sania be able to get married to Shoaib on April 15 with all the police cases slapped on the Pakistani cricketer and the Hyderabadi resident Ayesha Maha Siddiqui, who claims to the first wife of Shoaib, occupying the `centre court'.
But there are some unanswered questions in the drama. Here are 10 crucial questions:
1. If Shoaib claims that he was cheated as Ayesha had sent him photographs of some other girl, why is the Pakistani cricketer not releasing the pictures? Is he afraid that Ayesha my release more damaging pictures of their wedding?
2. Shoaib says that the marriage was not valid as he had signed 'nikahnama' believing that he was marrying the girl whose photographs were sent to him by Ayesha but who turned out to be someone else. Again where are the photographs? And why did he stay with Ayesha in a hotel as husband and wife.
3. In one of the matches in played in Hyderabad, Shoaib was on record claiming that he was happy to have scored a century in his `wife's city'. So, was he already married to Ayesha then even without having met her?
4. Shoaib says neither he nor his brother-in-law could ever meet Ayesha during their visits to Hyderabad. But there are records to prove that Ayesha and Shoaib had checked into a hotel as wife and husband. What is his take on this? Was he just having a fling? It has now emerged that former Indian cricket captain and presently Congress party MP Mohd Azaruddin had spotted the couple in the hotel.
5. Why is Shoaib not ready to offer a divorce to Ayesha in public? Is there more to the story if he offers a divorce and an apology? Shoaib's stand is that no 'nikah' (marriage) took place with Ayesha and hence there was no need for him to divorce her before marrying Sania. Then what about the hotel stay and his statement before the TV of his `wife's city'.
6. Ayesha now claims that she had a miscarriage, presumably out of the wedlock with Shoaib. Why is it that she is not releasing proof of this?
7. Why are the Siddiquis - the parents of Ayesha - fighting such a bitter public battle? Should they have not settled the matter in private? Do they have anything against Sania's family? Ayesha told a television channel that she was determined to see him punished for cheating her.
8. Why did Sania's family not do a proper background check on Shoaib before announcing plans of the wedding? Or did Shoaib hide things from Sania's family?
9. With non-bailable cheating cases now slapped on Shoaib by the Hyderabad police, can the Pakistani cricketer get married to Sania on April 15? Hyderabad Police Commissioner A.K. Khan has said that Shoaib would not be allowed to leave India without police permission. "We have alerted all immigration gateways not to allow Shoaib to leave," he said.
10. The cases that Shoaib faces are: sections 498 A (harassment), 420 (cheating) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code. Without clearing these cases will he be able to marryMeanwhile, Pakistan has stepped into the scene assuring an embattled Shoaib of all legal help.
Sources in Islamabad said that the Law Ministry in Paksitan is keenly following the case.
Earlier, in Hyderbaad Shoaib claimed that Ayesha had starting making phone calls to him in 2001 when he was in Sharjah with the Pakistani team.
"Naturally I wanted to meet her. Every time I brought up the topic of meeting, she would send me a bunch of photographs," the statement said.
The cricketer claimed that he was made to believe that he was speaking to the girl in the photograph. "The truth is that I have, to this day, not met the girl in the photograph," he said.
Shoaib said in 2002, Ayesha forced him into marriage over telephone saying people in Hyderabad had started talking about their relationship and this had put her parents in an embarrassing position.
"We accidentally ran into the truth about who Ayesha was," he said.
"It happened in August 2005. My brother-in-law got a photograph of a teacher in Saudi Arabia who was telling people around her that Shoaib was married to her. I was aghast when he showed me the photograph of the teacher. The woman in the photograph was the woman I called Maha Apa."
A nervous-looking Shoaib told reporters that the marriage with Sania would take place in Hyderabad on April 15. "I have come here for my wedding with Sania Mirza and we are happy," he said. Shoaib said Sania knew the truth and she had been supportive of him.
To a query about Sania's tennis career, he said she would play as long as she wished to play. "She has been representing India and will continue to represent India," he said to another query.
Source: India Syndicate with agency inputs
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