Hyderabad:
At a press conference on Monday evening in Hyderabad, Sania Mirza and Shoaib Malik stood side by side to emphasize that allegations of a first wife will not affect their wedding plans.
April 15 remains the big day; Hyderabad remains the location; Ayesha Siddiqui remains, according to the couple, a woman who Malik has never met. (
Enough proof to nail Shoaib: Ayesha's lawyer)
In earlier statements, most of them inconsistent in their version of events, Malik has said he did marry a woman on the phone who he had never met, but that this wedding cannot be considered legal, especially because his bride wasn't the woman she pretended to be in photos sent to him during their courtship on the phone. (
Read: Shoaib Malik: Love, allegations of sex, and dhoka)
Malik said he will stay in Hyderabad to cooperate with the police. It's not a magnaminous offer, necessarily. Malik's passport and cellphone have been impounded; he has been ordered not to leave the country while the police examines the case filed against him by Siddiqui's father. Malik has been accused of criminal intimidation and of cheating a married woman.
(Pakistan stands by Malik |
Bring your bride home, Afridi tells Malik)
"These are not nice things for me to hear about my future husband", said Mirza. She added that Malik had told her about his phone-relationship with Siddiqui, also a Hyderabad resident, before the controversy erupted.
Both Malik and Mirza emphasized that they are from respectable families and would like to concentrate on their wedding preparations rather than press conferences. They then spent a half-hour taking questions about Siddiqui.
"We are both representing our countries in many ways," said Mirza.
"Bring this person into the open," added Malik, "where is she, why isn't she before a camera," he asked, referring to Siddiqui.
The police has also questioned Ayesha and her family who say their one-point agenda is to make Malik publicly acknowledge his marriage to her, followed by a quickie divorce. "Admit your mistake. Come out with the divorce and that's it. We don't want any monetary help from you or any damages," says Ayesha's relative, Shams Babar.