Jinnah's only child, Dina Wadia, passes away at 98

Published November 2, 2017
Dina Wadia (extreme left), Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s only child, flew in from Delhi to attend her father’s funeral. —Photo: The Press Information Department, Ministry of Information, Broadcasting & National Heritage, Islamabad
Dina Wadia (extreme left), Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s only child, flew in from Delhi to attend her father’s funeral. —Photo: The Press Information Department, Ministry of Information, Broadcasting & National Heritage, Islamabad
Mr Jinnah with his sister Fatima and his daughter Dina. —​ Courtesy National Archives Islamabad
Mr Jinnah with his sister Fatima and his daughter Dina. —​ Courtesy National Archives Islamabad

Dina Wadia, the only child of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Rattanbai Petit, passed away in New York on Thursday, sources in Mumbai and New York confirmed.

She was 98 years old.

She had been born on the night between August 14 and 15 in 1919.

Jinnah had raised Dina alone after his separation from Rattanbai and her subsequent demise.

Mr Jinnah and Dina share a private moment in the grounds of their home on West Heath Road in Hampstead, London. —​ Courtesy National Archives Islamabad
Mr Jinnah and Dina share a private moment in the grounds of their home on West Heath Road in Hampstead, London. —​ Courtesy National Archives Islamabad

He loved her deeply, but their relationship had become strained after Dina fell in love with and married an Indian Parsi named Neville Wadia at the age of 17.

Dina and Neville lived in Mumbai and had two children, a boy and a girl, before the couple divorced.

Dina had first visited Pakistan in 1948, when the year-old country had lost its founder, Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

The last time she visited Pakistan was in 2004, accompanied by her son, Nasli Wadia, and grandchildren, Jehangir and Ness.

After visiting the mausoleum of her father, she had written in the visitors' book: “This has been very sad and wonderful for me. May his [Jinnah's] dream for Pakistan come true.”

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