Wikipedia has disabled the editing feature of the article ‘Kalapani territory’ after Nepali and Indian users started editing the page continuously in the wake of a controversy sparked by a new Indian political map released last week.

The article was first created on December 14, 2010, and had been barely edited in the last nine years. But the Wikipedia entry started receiving continuous editing from Nepali and Indian users since last week, with both sides making their own claims over the territory. Nepal’s government, in a statement last week, said there is no doubt that the territory belongs to Nepal.

The Post reported on November 4 that the Indian new political map—released by India last week after splitting up the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories in line with an August move of rescinding the state’s autonomous status—placed the Kalapani region within Indian borders.

News about the disabling of the Wikipedia page was first reported by Kantipur TV on Wednesday.

In the last nine years, the article has been visited by more than 100,000 users and edited 117 times. Of them, 61 edits by 29 users were made in the last week alone.

The article mentioned that Kalapani was a disputed territory between Darchula, Nepal and Pithoragarh, India on the way to Kailash Mansarovar.

Later, Indian users started claiming it to be part of Pithoragarh district in Uttrakhand state. This was followed by a counterclaim from the Nepali side.

As soon as Nepali internet users wrote Kalapani was a disputed territory but part of Sudur Paschim Province in Nepal, Indians would re-edit it, claiming the region fell within India’s borders.

Regular editing from both sides followed until Wikipedia blocked the editing feature. On Wednesday, a note appeared on the top right of the page with a lock icon that said: “This page is protected until November 17, 2019, due to editing disputes.”

The current version of the article says “Kalapani is a territory disputed between India and Nepal, but under Indian administration as part of Pithoragarh district in the Uttarakhand state. It is marked by the Kalapani river, one of the headwaters of the Kali River in the Himalayas at an altitude of 3600 meters.”

The article also mentions: “Although claimed by Nepal as part of Darchula District, Kalapani is controlled by India’s Indo-Tibetan Border Police since the 1962 border war with China.”

Normally, anyone can edit the articles in Wikipedia, but the information must be supported by published evidence.