Wikipedia:Contentious topics/South Asia

The Arbitration Committee has enacted remedies that apply to all editors who make edits related to the region of South Asia (India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal), including but not limited to history, politics, ethnicity, and social groups (the "contentious topic"). The contentious topics procedure applies to all pages and edits related to this contentious topic.

Arbitration Committee decisions

Contentious topics

Last modified 27 March 2026

1c) South Asia designated as a contentious topic

Passed 7 to 5 at 00:48, 18 July 2025 (UTC)

Extension of extended-confirmed restriction (limited duration)

Last modified 18 July 2025

6b) A consensus of admins at WP:AE may extend WP:ECR to subtopics of WP:ARBIPA if such a sanction is necessary to prevent disruption. Such extensions must be of a limited duration, not to exceed one year.

Passed 8 to 3 at 00:48, 18 July 2025 (UTC)

Subtopic of Indian military history

Indian military history extended-confirmed restriction

Last modified 18 July 2025

2) The topic of Indian military history is placed under the extended-confirmed restriction.

Passed 10 to 0 at 00:48, 18 July 2025 (UTC)

Subtopic of castes

3) Caste-related topics in South Asia are placed under the extended-confirmed restriction.

Passed 10 to 0 at 00:48, 18 July 2025 (UTC)
Amended by motion at 22:35, 1 March 2026 (UTC)
Amended by motion at 18:59, 27 March 2026 (UTC)

5) Administrators are permitted to preemptively protect mainspace articles covered by the extended-confirmed restriction for caste-related topics in South Asia when there is a reasonable belief that they will be the target of disruption.

Passed 6 to 5 at 00:48, 18 July 2025 (UTC)
Amended by motion at 22:35, 1 March 2026 (UTC)

Guidance for administrators

ARBIPA available sanctions

9) Uninvolved administrators are encouraged to monitor the articles covered by contentious topic designation in the original India-Pakistan case to ensure compliance. To assist in this, administrators are reminded that:

  1. Accounts with a clear shared agenda may be blocked if they violate the sockpuppetry policy or any other applicable policy;
  2. Accounts whose primary purpose is disruption, violating the policy on biographies of living persons, or making personal attacks may be blocked indefinitely;
  3. There are special provisions in place to deal with editors who violate the BLP policy;
  4. Administrators may act on clear BLP violations with page protections, blocks, or warnings even if they have edited the article themselves or are otherwise involved;
  5. The contentious topics procedure permits full and semi-page protections, including use of pending changes where warranted, and – once an editor has become aware of the contentious topic designation – any other appropriate remedy may be issued without further warning.
Passed 7 to 0 with 3 abstentions at 00:48, 18 July 2025 (UTC)

Breadth of topic bans

24) Administrators are reminded that, when possible, topic bans should only be as broad as necessary to stop disruption. Some possible subtopics related to WP:ARBIPA are:

  1. Specific time periods in Indian history, such as before or after the establishment of the British Raj or before or after the foundation of the Republic of India
  2. Human activity in India
  3. Indian entertainment, generally or in a specific language
  4. Indian political, ethnic, religious, and caste topics
  5. Hindu nationalism and opposition thereto
  6. India–Pakistan relations
  7. Indian WP:BLPs or biographies
Passed 8 to 3 at 00:48, 18 July 2025 (UTC)

Standard set of restrictions

Any uninvolved administrator may impose the standard set of restrictions in this topic area for up to one year:

Individual restrictions

Page restrictions

Clarifications and amendments

Templates

The following templates may be used in this contentious topic:

User notifications

Editnotices

Talk page notice