IndiaPost.com - Father contests Malik's claim he did not marry daughter

HYDERABAD: The father of a Hyderabadi girl whose love story involving Pakistani cricket captain Shoaib Malik went sour contested his claim that the couple did not enter into a 'nikah' and pressed the player to give a "formal divorce."

M A Siddiqui in a statement said the family will move the court if his daughter does not get divorce which was needed to help her start a "new life." He was reacting to Malik's statement in Karachi on January 21 when the cricketer claimed that no 'nikah' took place between him and Ayesha Siddiqui. "The'nikah' of my daughter (Ayesha) with Shoaib Malik took plce on June 3, 2002.

We also have the proof," said Siddiqui amid reports that the couple got 'married' through a telephone 'nikah' on that date. Siddiqui, a resident of posh Banjara Hills in the Andhra Pradesh capital, also challenged Malik's claims that his marriage plans with the Hyderabadi girl ended because both families could not reach an understanding on certain issues.

"Yes I had a long relationship with her and we planned to get married. But no nikah ever took place and in the end our families could not reach an understanding on various things," Malik had said. Siddiqui alleged Malik wanted to end the relationship not for the reasons he had stated but "just to gain goodwill and build his image."

Siddiqui said his daughter is "devastated and traumatised" by the whole issue and claimed she was hospitalized many times.

Siddiqui claimed that his family called Malik and his family umpteen times but they "refused to talk to us." "Shoaib Malik never tried to even talk to us even once. This behaviour has saddened deeply," he said.

On his daughter's future, he cited a media report quoting a Maulvi as saying that rightly his daughter needed a "divorce" in order to start a "new life".

Pakistani players were even feted to a grand reception by the Siddiqui family here when the team toured Indian in 2005.