Dina Wadia, the only daughter of Pakistan’s founder Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, passed away at her home in New York on Thursday, a spokesperson for the Wadia Group said in a statement. She was 98.
Dina Wadia is survived by her son and Wadia Group Chairman Nusli N Wadia, daughter Diana N Wadia, and grandsons Ness and Jeh Wadia, said the statement issued in Mumbai.
The Wadia Group, one of the oldest conglomerates of India, was founded by Sir Lovji Nusserwanjee Wadia in 1736.
“She made a dramatic entry into the world, announcing her arrival when her parents were enjoying a movie at a local theatre in London.
“Oddly enough, precisely 28 years to the day and hour before the birth of Jinnah’s other offspring, Pakistan,” acclaimed historian Stanely Wolpert wrote in his book Jinnah of Pakistan.
After marrying a Parsi businessman, Wadia stayed in India before moving to the United States. She visited Pakistan upon the death of Jinnah, followed by another trip in 2004, during the Pervez Musharraf regime.
“This has been very sad and wonderful for me. May his [Jinnah’s] dream for Pakistan come true,” she had written in the visitor’s book at the Quaid-i-Azam mausoleum in Karachi.
Condolences poured in immediately after the news of Wadia’s demise broke. Politicians and activists took to the microblogging site Twitter to offer their condolences.
