HYDERABAD, April 7 (PTI): In a dramatic turn around ending a bitter row over his marriage, Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Malik today divorced Ayesha Siddiqui, the local girl whom he had wedded seven years ago, paving the way for his tying the knot with Sania Mirza on April 15.
Under the compromise brokered by Muslim community leaders, Shoaib will pay Rs 15,000 as maintenance to Ayesha at the rate of Rs 5,000 per month for three months as per Sharia (Islamic law), announced Maj G M Qadri at a press conference in the presence of Ayesha�s mother Farisa and Sania�s uncle Mohammad Shafi.
�The divorce has been settled and done,� he said adding that the police case against Shoaib, who has been maintaining that there was no valid marriage with Ayesha, will be withdrawn. They have already filed an application with the police in this regard.
At the press conference at the residence of Andhra Pradesh Congress general secretary Abid Rasool Khan, Qadri rejected suggestions of any monetary angle to the compromise saying �no money is involved except the Rs 15,000 under the Sharia�.
Today�s compromise that came after night-long negotiations between the two sides, brings to an end a bitter war of words between Ayesha Siddiqui�s family and Shoaib who landed here on Saturday and faced complaint of cheating, intimidation and harassment. Police grilled him on Monday and took away his passport while barring him from leaving India.
Shafi and Khan said negotiators worked through the night to work out a compromise between the two families because the controversy was bringing a bad name to the community and the religion.
Farisa said as decided by the elders of the community, it (compromise) has been done. I am very happy about it. All community leaders have come to him (Shoaib) to do the settlement and he has done it.
�My daughter had to pass through hardships. Finally justice has been done to my daughter. She is relieved and very happy�, she said, wishing Sania and Shoaib well.
Farisa said the chapter is closed and that she was very happy. �I only wanted this (divorce). It has been done�.
Qadri said �divorce has been settled and done and it was done after the intervention of community leaders. After hearing all three parties we decided that divorce should happen. There was no condition and amount (money) involved.
�Whatever has been done, has been done according to our religion and sharia. After negotiations all through last night, the divorce proceedings happened around 7-8 am this morning in the presence of a Qazi,� he said.
Later, addressing a press conference in front of Sania�s house, Qadri said both Shoaib and Siddiqui family were initially in no mood to budge from their positions.
�Shoaib kept maintaining that he had not married anyone. Then we said this is a matter of our community. Everything is going in wrong direction and wrong signals are going. That is when he conceded and said alright�, Qadri said.
He said the community elders decided to step in because the whole controversy was bringing a bad name to Islam, the community and to both the countries. So it was in the greater interest of the community and the two countries we counselled them.
Asked how Shoaib could sign a divorce if he had not married the girl, he said he would not go into issues of technicalities because the cricketer maintained that he had signed the �nikahnamma� thinking it was a different girl.
�We were not judgemental as to who was right or who was wrong in working out the compromise�, Qadri said.
Rasool said they had been working for the last five days as the entire community was upset. �A lot of muck was thrown at each other. There were allegations and counter allegations and it was getting dirty�.
�We have not taken sides and resolved it peacefully. We worked all through last night and about 10-15 people were involved in it. The end result is a happy result,� he said.