Pakistan cricket captain threatens legal action over 'marriage'

Shoaib Malik is threatening to sue a Muslim family from India for claiming that he married their daughter in a ceremony conducted over the telephone.

The Pakistani cricket captain has refuted suggestions that he married Ayesha Siddiqui five years ago after dating her for two months. Mr Malik has lambasted the family, from Hyderabad, for committing fraud after photographs pertaining to be Ms Siddiqui were revealed to actually be of someone else.

However, Ms Siddiqui's father Mohammed Ahmed Siddiqui is quoted by the Times of India newspaper as saying that the cricketer is wrong to deny the marriage and that in doing so Mr Malik has made his daughter ill. Mr Siddiqui reportedly asserted that a marriage conducted over the telephone is legal under Islamic Sharia law and that if Mr Malik is unhappy he should ask for a divorce.

While the international sportsman does not renounce his romantic intentions towards Ms Siddiqui, who he met over the internet, he is adamant that no marriage took place.

Speaking at a news conference in Lahore, Mr Malik said: "I was interested in marrying her after she told me she belonged to an Indian Muslim family in Hyderabad and sent me her pictures.

"I can claim with authority that no nikkah (a Muslim marriage ceremony) has ever been performed [by me] with a girl having a name of Ayesha. This is an accusation against me, and I will take legal action, both in India and in Pakistan."

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