Sania, Shoaib’s honeymoon

Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister Syed Mehdi Shah today added more controversy to the ongoing marriage saga of Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik and Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza’s by extending an invitation to the couple to spend their honeymoon in the province.

Shah’s invite to this high profile Indo-Pak couple is being seen as a ploy to further internationalise the Kashmir dispute. Gilgit-Baltistan is a part of the undivided state of Jammu and Kashmir and the Pakistani authorities have been attempting to delink Gilgit from the Kashmir issue by making it Pakistan’s fifth province.

The move to delink Gilgit has met with strong international criticism and the invite today to Sania and Shoaib is seen as an attempt by Islamabad to have Gilgit declared a part of Pakistan. Shah said both Sania and Shoaib would be given official protocol in Gilgit if they decide to visit the region after their marriage.

“The people of Gilgit would be delighted if Shoaib and Indian tennis player Sania could spend their honeymoon in the province,” Shah said in a statement. Clouds of uncertainty still hover over the Shoaib-Sania wedding, since the media flashed news about their marriage.

A Hyderabad-based girl, Ayesha Siddiqui, had lodged a complaint of ‘fraud’ and ‘cheating’ against Shoaib, claiming that she was already married to him. On Wednesday, after the intervention of community leaders, Shoaib divorced Ayesha, who had earlier claimed that they had both got married in 2002. Shoaib signed the talaqnama (divorce papers) after the leaders said that the public splashing and scrutiny of the episode had brought a bad name to the community.

As of now, the star couple would tie the nuptial knot on April 15 in Hyderabad.