KARACHI/HYDERABAD: Turning the heat on Shoaib Malik before his April 15 marriage to Sania Mirza, Ayesha Siddiqui and her family on Friday threatened to sue the Pakistani cricketer and made it clear that the unsavoury chapter will be closed only if she gets an "official divorce".
Ayesha, who claims to have married Shoaib in 2002, went the whole hog on Friday circulating copies of her 'nikahnama' to Pakistani and Indian channels where she poured her heart out on the break-up.
The marriage certificate was shown by several Pakistani television channels and apparently contained the signatures of Shoaib on the column for the groom and the name of Maha Siddiqui on the column for the bride.
"I have released this marriage certificate because Shoaib and his family have constantly been denying this marriage," Ayesha said.
28-year-old Shoaib is all set to tie the nuptial knot with 23-year-old tennis sensation Sania on April 15 in Hyderabad, which will be followed by a reception in Lahore.
"The only thing I want now is an official divorce from him, but it has to be in the open and not behind closed doors because he can always then deny it later as he has the marriage. I want to end my ordeal, I want to move on and put a stop to people asking me questions constantly about my marriage to him. Even an official 'talaq, talaq talaq' will do," she said.
Her father M A Siddiqui threatened to file a case against Shoaib if he went ahead with the marriage to Sania without divorcing Ayesha.
While the Siddiqui family claims Shoaib is married to their daughter and Sania would be his second wife if they go ahead with the marriage, the Pakistani cricketer and his family have constantly denied that he ever entered into any wedlock with Ayesha.
Siddiqui has threatened to sue Malik and also seek a fatwa against him from Ulemas.
Ayesha said that she had released the Nikahnama because it proved that the marriage did take place.
"They are signatures of witnesses on the certificate and Shoaib sent me a copy for signature and a 'Haq Mahar' amount of Pakistani 500 rupees," she said.
She said that Shoaib had always been unhappy with her weight problems and for his sake, she had even gone and had a surgery in Delhi.
"But I am devastated the way he is constantly denying everything. I have nothing against Sania but the truth must come out," Ayesha said.
Imran Zafar Malik, Shoaib's brother-in-law, however, dismissed the marriage certificate as a fake and said when no Nikah ceremony ever took place the document had no value at all.
"I don't want to say anything more except that Ayesha is a very talented girl and she is being misguided by some people," he said.
Imran also said that the Siddiqui family had left them no choice but to purse legal action against them in India.
An emotional Ayesha said, "I may not be a winner but I am not loser either. If he doesn't want me, well I don't want him either. My father went through a quadruple by-pass surgery. I am not begging for sympathy, I just know what my family has undergone for this."
Ayesha rubbished talk of her doing this for publicity and money.
She also brushed aside reports that Shoaib had married a woman by the name of Maha Siddiqui and not Ayesha.
"My name is Maha Siddiqui, Ayesha is the name given to me by my grandmother. Maha is my name in my passport. So ironically, when he says the wrong name was given during the nikah, well both names belong to the same person -- me," she said.
A Pakistani television channel today beamed excerpts of a 2004 interview in which Shoaib admitted he was married to Ayesha.
Asked by the interviewer if girls had started approaching him as he was a young and successful cricketer, Malik replied, "It seems you want me to be beaten by my wife. I am already married. My nikaah has been done. She stays in Jeddah though she hails from Hyderabad in India.
"Her name is Ayesha and I am very happy. If there are any calls from women, I don't attend to them and I avoid them," he had said.
Ayesha said she met Shoaib in Dubai in 2000 and the two started meeting each other regularly.
"When he started off, in 2002 his career wasn't really doing too well. Even I had just started of my career, teaching. It took time for us to talk to our respective families. So by the time things started working for us it was too late, he had become a star and he was no longer interested in me.
"The only thing he saw was that 'You don't look that great, you're not that pretty, you're embarrassing me," she said.
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