India-Pakistan marriage? Sports stars Sania Mirza, Shoaib Malik win few cheers.

Relations between India and its rival Pakistan may be at a low ebb. But the news that two of their biggest sports personalities are set to marry has sparked a media whirl in both countries and newspapers headlines like: “A New Chapter in Indio-Pak Ties.”

Sania Mirza, India’s biggest tennis star and the first Indian to win a Women’s Tennis Association tour title in 2005, announced Monday she would marry Pakistani cricketer and fellow Muslim Shoaib Malik, who captained Pakistan’s cricket team between 2007 and 2009.

Marriages between Indians and Pakistanis are not unheard of, because many Muslim families who migrated to Pakistan when the subcontinent was partitioned in 1947 have stayed in touch with relatives who remained in India. But a marriage between sporting stars, at a time of political tension, is unprecedented, say pundits.

“It’s like an American gymnast marrying a Russian sports star during the Cold War,” says M.J. Akbar, editor-in-chief of India’s Sunday Guardian newspaper.

India, which has fought three wars with its neighbor since 1947, suspended a formal peace process after the Mumbai terrorist attacks of November 2008, accusing Pakistani state agencies of involvement. Tensions mounted earlier this year after a spate of border skirmishes and a spike in separatist violence in Indian Kashmir by Pakistan-based militant groups.

When the two sides held talks last month, India reiterated its view that Pakistan is not doing enough to crack down on the Islamic groups involved in planning the Mumbai assault.

Rooting for the other team?

But Ms. Mirza said Tuesday she did not welcome comparisons between geopolitics and her engagement.

“My marriage has nothing to do with Indo-Pak politics,” Indian newspapers quoted the her saying. “This is a happy moment ... Be happy we are getting married. We both are happy. Our families are happy. I don’t think we can ask for more.”

After the April wedding, which will be celebrated both in Hyderabad, India, and in Lahore, Pakistan, according to reports, the couple will settle down in Dubai.

Mirza said she would continue to play tennis for India. Malik, who comes from Sialkot, a town near the Indian border in Pakistan’s Punjab province, plays cricket for Pakistan. But he's currently fighting a 12-month suspension from the national team by the Pakistan Cricket Board for poor performance and misconduct.

When asked which side she would support if India played Pakistan in a cricket match, Mirza said she would support both India and her husband.

‘Happier if she married an Indian’

Tuesday, Indians’ responses to the engagement were mixed. Some took the view that love matches were unstoppable; others expressed furious patriotism.

“It is strange she couldn’t find a suitable boy here,” says Lakshman Maity, a Hindu driver in Delhi. “India and Pakistan are not on good terms and Pakistan is conspiring against India every day – in such a situation how could she ever think of marrying a Pakistani?”

A local Hindu political party in Coimbatore, India, reportedly held a protest Wednesday against the Mirza's pending marriage. They demanded the tennis player be deported and that the federal government take back all the awards given to her.

Mohammad Irfan, a Muslim driver who works in Delhi, was also puzzled by the match, though for different reasons.

“Shoaib is an eligible bachelor and from her own religion, so it’s fine,” he says. “But I would be happier if she married an Indian cricket star. There are lots of eligible Muslims in our country too.”