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The Real History of the Partition of India & Pakistan in Ms. Marvel

PBS Origins | April 13, 2026



Check out The Bigger Picture from @PBS https://youtu.be/Wnr4RJxDifw

Ms. Marvel, a Pakistani American teenager named Kamala Khan, is the latest superhero to join the Marvel Universe. Her superpower? Family bangles that carry the strength and power of intergenerational knowledge passed down by her grandmother from Pakistan.

But a lot of the magic behind the bangles has been lost to time, war, and trauma. And Kamala has yet to learn how to control these forces. Based on real historical events, Kamala’s family was forcibly displaced and lost loved ones during the Partition of India in 1947. After India gained independence, the British Crown drew new borders and divided the region into secular India and a new Muslim territory: Pakistan. As a result, South Asia experienced one of the largest refugee crises in modern history, one that continues to impact families today, including the family of Ms. Marvel.

So what can Ms. Marvel teach us about the impact of Partition on families and intergenerational trauma? And how does the superhero genre allow us to reckon with darker aspects of world history? We speak to one of the writers of Ms. Marvel, Fatimah Asghar, and the founder of the 1947 Partition Archive, Dr. Guneeta Singh Bhalla, about why retelling our history, in both fiction and nonfiction, is so important today.

Resources:
How ‘Ms. Marvel’ Put Partition on Screen. The Juggernaut.
https://www.thejuggernaut.com/ms-marvel-partition-episode

Ms. Marvel: The India-Pakistan trauma at the heart of the show. BBC.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-62117924

The Great Divide: The violent legacy of the Indian Partition. The New Yorker.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/29/the-great-divide-books-dalrymple

The 1947 Partition Archive.
https://www.1947partitionarchive.org/

Watch the full oral stories of the 1947 Partition Archive participants:
Ravi Chopra: https://youtu.be/_5dyEjkzs_U
Ajit Cour: https://youtu.be/i8LFUFVHMhw
Ali Shan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lcx6O2Fltrc

Credits:
Director: Dolly Li
Producer: Tien Nguyen
Consulting Producer: Danielle Bainbridge
Associate Producer: Mia Faske
On-camera appearances by: Fatimah Asghar, Guneeta Singh Bhalla
Written by: Mia Faske, Dolly Li, and Tien Nguyen
Voiceover by: Kiana Taylor
Director of Photography: Brian Inocencio
Gaffer: Bryce Holden
Online Editor: Travis Hatfield
Editor: Eurie Chung
Assistant Editor: Josaen Ronquillo
Motion Graphics: Travis Hatfield, Jonathan Gil
Research Assistant: Kiana Taylor
Makeup Artist: Tanosha Tee Johnson
Fact Checker: Yvonne McGreevy

Post-production services & facilities provided by: Flash Cuts
Executive Producer for Flash Cuts: Eurie Chung
Executive Producers for CAAM: Stephen Gong, Donald Young
Supervising Producer for CAAM: Sapana Sakya
Coordinating Producer for CAAM: Czarina Garcia
Executive in Charge for PBS: Maribel Lopez
Director of Programming for PBS: Gabrielle Ewing

Additional Footage:
Alamy
British Pathé
Getty
NARA
The 1947 Partition Archive

Guests:
Fatimah Asghar
Guneeta Singh Bhalla

Written by PBS Origins

Comments

This post currently has 34 comments.

  1. @MasterChieftain

    April 13, 2026 at 6:50 am

    nowadays, one side reads the qur'an and blows themselves up once in a while after traveling to mumbai, while the other kills anyone eating a hamburger while shitting on the streets en mass. The british should never have left xDDD

  2. @VikashTiwari-s6c

    April 13, 2026 at 6:50 am

    "Occupied South Asia" 🤡 lol
    Silly me! I thought it was called British India. But nah, she's right, Bhutan and Nepal were clearly colonized by her brain cells packing up and leaving.

  3. @abajaj1510

    April 13, 2026 at 6:50 am

    USA OSS and Britain needed a state that would be their puppet against soviet expansionism. A partition would create this puppet state. So they did what they did best…divide and rule. Inciting riots. And created a Frankenstein state with two landmasses not connected to each other. It’s clearly not religion based, since there are more Muslims in India than Pakistan. Jinnah was hardly a conservative muslim, he ate pork and drank wine and was a lawyer from Bombay. Gandhi & Nehru were told to shut up and accept what was going on or would be taken out. Pakistan is a fictitious state created to be a puppet of USA and Britain, as a bulwark in two strategic areas (west pakistan and today's bangladesh) where US and brit military could be stationed. Everything else that happened was of no consequence to the colonialists. They couldn't care less destroying what they considered to be barbaric cultures of Punjab and Bengal.

  4. @Bavdingo

    April 13, 2026 at 6:50 am

    I'm on the Indian side of things, no one in my family was affected but watching this scene made be cry so much. We weren't taught the real history. Divide and Conquer. We are all the same.

  5. @ShadowCollie141

    April 13, 2026 at 6:50 am

    But why did Britain have to partition India eh? No one ever talks about that. The Empire wanted to keep India united.
    It was the Islamic minority in India who were demanding it because they refused to be ruled by Hindus and they were the one's killing and rioting in order to get a partition.

    It wasn't Britain who were responsible for all the deaths.

  6. @umeshkokcha9399

    April 13, 2026 at 6:50 am

    'Invasion to Partition of India'

    No doubt India has been oldest and the richest country in the world. Historically India was land of Hinduism and Sikhism religion people.
    Muslim kingdom used to attack India to invade India since 712 AD, and after they succeeded in invading major region in India they constructed mosque accross India, on top of it, they went on destroying Hindu temples and constructing mosque on them, and simulteniously infiltrated and settled Muslim's and spread muslim people in India plus did religion conversion of Hindu religion people in to Muslim religion rapidly.
    Note: some Great Hindu king's and Queen's name's:
    'Prithviraj Chauhan',
    'Maharana Pratap',
    'Ranjit Singh',
    'Rani Padmini',
    'Shivaji Bhosale'
    all fought with their soldier's against Muslim invader's, to protect Hinduism, and Sikhism religion land India.
    Then after on December 1600, British arrived in India as Business company and after few decade's invaded India and put end to muslim invasion, now 'British' spread christian religion by contructing church accross India, plus religion conversion of Hindu in to christian religion done rapidly.
    British worked plan to get news of internal India freedom movement by forming 'Muslim.league' in december 1906 and got elected 'Muhammad Ali Jinnah' as 'Muslim League head , then later British formed 'Congress Working Commitee', in December 1920. and got 'Mohandas Gandhi' elected as head of the 'Congress Working Commitee', it appeared that 'Mohandas Gandhi', was working with mutual understanding with 'British', as 'Mohandas Gandhi', along with 'Congress commitee member's', was always quick and super excited to attend British get together's, parties, on their invitations, so 'British' were in favour of making first prime Minister from 'Congress Working Commitee' the result 'Jawaharlal Nehru' was made first prime Minister of India in 1947.
    'Muslim.league' started demanding separate land to make muslim country 'British' with 'Muslim League' and 'Congress Working Committee' before they quit India, took decision to separate Muslim from India by giving them some land, for that purpose, India gave land 881913 square kilometre in north west and 148460 square kilometre land in East in charity to separate muslim from Hindu and Sikh and they formed country named 'Pakistan' then few decades later east was named as 'Bangladesh', The biggest blunder did by 'Mohandas Gandhi' (Congress Working Committee), allowed Muslim to stay in India also !!!
    Hindu left 'Pakistan' region but major percentage of Muslim did not leave India !!!
    No action was taken by 'Congress Working Committee', to make pure Muslim go to the land given in charity and those got converted in to Muslim by Muslim invader's get them converted back in to their original Hindu religion if they were to stay in India to separate muslim from Hindu and Sikh land India.
    in 19th century son of soil India the Great freedom fighter, Nejaji 'Subhash Chandra Bose', the founder of 'Azad Hind Fauj', fought invader's, 'Azad Hind Fauj', soldier's sacrificed lives fighting invaders and at last in 1943 Netaji 'Subhash Chandra Bose', declared that India is free now and Indian people accepted, Netaji 'Subhash Chandra Bose', as first Prime Minister of India, countries Russia Germany Japan etc also agreed on this, as 'Azad Hind Fauj', made British quit India, Not to forget sacrifice of some crucial freedom fighter's name's:
    'Rani Laxmi Bai',
    'Bal Gangadhar Tilak',
    'Bhagat Singh',
    'Chandra Shekhar Azad',
    'V.D Savarkar' all played crucial role in India freedom movement
    we see world organisation recognize Pakistan Bangladesh etc as Muslim countries and United Kingdom, United States of America etc as Christian countries !!!
    India Question to world is which is the country they recognize as Hindu and sikh country ?
    World knows that India is a Hindu and Sikh religion country.
    We all indians want India declared recognized by world as Hindu country, isn't it ?
    Government of India sleeping on this ?
    Still pending !!!

    Jai HINDU & SIKH ❤ Jai India.

  7. @Qoral-ef5rz

    April 13, 2026 at 6:50 am

    This reeks of Indian nationalist sentiment. India was not split into two. The colony of British India, or the British Raj, was split into three (that is, Princely India, the Dominion of Pakistan, and the Dominion of Hindustan). And trust me, when the British left, they didn't divide two lovers… they just restored the landmass to its default state: several sovereign powers competing with each other.

    I understand that many people regret the Partition, for various reasons and from different angles. But don't romanticize history. India was united under 5 imperial powers (with 4 being of foreign-origin): Mauryans, Khaljis, Tughlaqs, Mughals and British. And all of these states have one thing in common: they peaked quickly, and waned quickly, until they became puppets or were expelled.

  8. @snehashispanda4808

    April 13, 2026 at 6:50 am

    Islamic rule in India was a form of colonialism, characterized by the imposition of a foreign islamic culture, religion, and political system on the Indian subcontinent.
    Muslims were foreign invaders who came to India and imposed their Islamic faith and culture on the indigenous population. They point to examples of the destruction of Hindu temples, the imposition of Jizya tax on non-Muslims, and the forced conversions to Islam as evidence of this colonialist mindset.
    Muslim social attitudes on modern issues have caused controversy everywhere. Islam to be incompatible with secular society, and that, unlike other religions, Islam positively commands its adherents to impose its religious law on all peoples, believers and unbelievers alike, whenever possible and by any means necessary. Islam allows to propagate abuses, such as the mistreatment of women and homosexuals, and slavery. They also state that multiculturalism allows a degree of religious freedom that exceeds what is needed for personal religious freedom and is conducive to the creation of organizations aimed at undermining secular values. According to poll, high people had an unfavourable view of Islam, higher than for any other religion.

  9. @JonathanDoyle-te4mt

    April 13, 2026 at 6:50 am

    Well this was incredibly biased. To the point just down right lying about history. Gandhi had created hindu nationalism, The British did the best they could to please everyone and avoid a cataclysm civil war between hindus and muslims partition was the only logical solution, and its what Jinnah and Nehru wanted. I mean you only have to look at the treatment of muslims under Modi and BJP to see the British were right, but don't let facts or accuracy get in the way of your story telling.

  10. @thompson7271

    April 13, 2026 at 6:50 am

    Who freakin cares the united states never touched these countries. We did however enslave and brutally colonize the phillipines and put their people through hell. America must get in the business of righting its own wrongs

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