Bhajji & SRK will be invited: Shoaib

Shoaib Malik’s family remains unfazed with MA Siddiqui’s threats to sue the former Pakistani captain

Hyderabad-based MA Siddiqui has threatened to take Shoaib Malik to court to ensure that the former Pakistani captain divorce Ayesha before tying the knot with Sania Mirza on April 15. But the Malik household remains unfazed by this news. While Shoaib’s sister (Shazia Imran) is busy shopping and is in two minds deciding on which gold ornament she must get for her sister-in-law, Shoaib’s brother-in-law, Imran Zafar, is in Lahore to choose the wedding card.

Speaking on Siddiqui’s threat, Imran says, “We aren’t disturbed at all. The wedding preparations are going on fine. We went down to Hyderabad in the middle of March to ask for Sania’s hand. When they accepted the proposal, it’s evident that they must have done all the homework that was required before agreeing to get their daughter married off. We still maintain that Shoaib was duped and shown pictures of another girl posing as Ayesha. We have all those pictures of the girl who posed as Ayesha. Last time around, when the issue was raised, we had decided not to release those pictures to the media because it involved the privacy of a lady. But we can’t be soft all the time.”

But what about the clips of Shoaib being interviewed by Arun Lal post an Indo-Pak match where he accepted congratulations for his wedding after having won the match in his wife’s city? “Shoaib was madly in love with a girl whose pictures were sent to him. But that girl wasn’t Ayesha. Shoaib was trapped. Ayesha would tutor him online and have him parrot the line that they were married at some select interviews. The Arun Lal interview was a result of Ayesha Siddiqui tutoring Shoaib,” Imran adds.

While the Ayesha episode might be past for the Maliks, the family is equally cool about Sania’s ex-factor, Sohrab Mirza. “It’s their personal matter. But we don’t want to dwell on the past,” Imran says.

The family, including Shoaib’s mother Farooq Sultana, isn’t bothered about Sania’s hemline controversies either. “My mother-in-law understands that a short skirt is a sportsgirl’s uniform. We are not conservative enough to get perturbed with all that. Right now, our only concern is the wedding,” Imran avers.

While on the wedding, members of the Malik family are expecting to get their visa in a day or two. “We will be in Hyderbad on April 15 for the wedding. We are still deciding on whether to host the Pakistani reception in Lahore or Sialkot. As for the guestlist, there’s Bhajji, Viru and Ashish Nehra. My son (Shoaib’s nephew) is a huge fan of Team Kolkata. We will be inviting SRK. The rest on the guestlist will be decided once Shoaib returns to Pakistan. There’ll be no reception in Dubai,” Imran informs.

Finally, what about rumours claiming that Imran is tweeting on Shoaib’s behalf? “Shoaib isn’t on Twitter. We are so busy with the wedding preparations now that we haven’t yet had the time to figure out who is tweeting on Shoaib’s behalf,”.