Sania-Shoaib wedding postponed (Second Lead)

HYDERABAD - Controversies continue to haunt Indian tennis star Sania Mirza and Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik as their high-profile marriage scheduled for Friday evening has been postponed.

With police not yet returning Shoaib’s passport, the qazi expressed his inability to perform the nikah and the two families had no option but to postpone the ceremony, sources close to the families said.

Earlier, the qazi told reporters that nikah would be performed at 7 p.m. Sania Mirza’s family members made hectic efforts to get back Shoaib’s passport, which was seized by police Monday after grilling him in connection with a criminal case filed by his first wife Ayesha Siddiqui, also of Hyderabad.

Sania’s father Imran Mirza met senior police officers, including the one who was handling the case against Shoaib, but they told him that since the passport was deposited with the court, Shoaib would have to retrieve it from there after some formalities.

Qazis in Hyderabad do not perform marriages of foreigners without verifying the passport and no-objection certificates from their respective governments.

Though Ayesha, who was divorced by Shoaib Wednesday, has informed the police that she is withdrawing her complaint, Shoaib would get back his passport only after completing some legal formalities.

Sources said the nikah would now be possible any day before April 15, the day when Sania’s family has planned to host a wedding reception at Taj Krishna hotel here.

Sania’s family has also sought security for three-day marriage ceremonies at the house, beginning April 13.

Sources in ‘Qazat’, or a section of Wakf Board, which deals with Muslim marriages, told IANS that the nikahnama or the marriage document to be signed by Sania and Shoaib will clearly mention this is Shoaib’s second marriage.

It was only Wednesday that Shoaib divorced his first wife Ayesha, a resident of this city, following mediation by Sania’s family members and community elders. Ayesha had filed a police complaint against Shoaib, accusing him of cheating.

The divorce came after the former Pakistani skipper constantly maintained that he did not marry Ayesha Siddiqui but another girl whose photographs she had sent her.

Ayesha claimed the marriage took place over phone in 2002 and even produced a nikahnama with Shoaib’s signature on it to prove this. She had even claimed that they stayed as man and wife.

Ayesha also said she became pregnant and had a miscarriage.

The Qazat Wednesday issued ‘talaqnama’ or divorce certificate after Shoaib signed the papers and paid Rs.15,000 to Ayesha towards her maintenance for three months as per Islamic sharia.

It was only to save Sania from being called his second wife that Shoaib continued denying the marriage but crumbled when Ayesha produced “solid proof” and he faced arrest in the criminal case, sources said.