THE passing away of Dina Wadia, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah`s only child brings to an end an epoch. The report in Dawn`s Nov 3 issue about the event is interesting and informative.
I was born in September 1930 in pre-partition India in Bantva, a small town in Junagarh state. My grandfather, Hoosen Kasim Dada, had the privilege of hosting the Quaid-i-Azam when he visited Bantva and stayed at our summer house in January 1940 while the Quaid was on a campaign to collect funds for Pakistan.
My uncle, the late Kasim Dada, in his book A Ramble Through Life has given an account of this visit along with some memorable photographs.
While conversing with a friend recently, we started talking about the Quaid-iAzam`s relationship with his daughter Dina. My friend expressed regrets that Jinnah had severed relations with her after her marriage in 1938. I replied to my f riend that this was a misconception and not correct.
I have been an avid reader of Dawn since before Partition. I told him that I distinctly remember reading in an issue of Dawn in the early years of Pakistan an article reproducing the Quaid`s correspondence with Dina in which he expressed his af fection for her and invited her to visit him in Pakistan. If I remember correctly, this correspondence was perhaps in late 1947 or early 1948.
It would be a great eye-opener for many if Dawn would reprint that article.
