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Police in Indian-administered Kashmir have raided an office of the Kashmir Times, local news outlets are reporting, fuelling concerns about a deepening crackdown on press freedom in the disputed territory.

The State Investigation Agency, a branch of the Jammu and Kashmir Police, carried out searches at the office in Jammu on Thursday, The Hindu newspaper and other outlets reported.

The police agency did not immediately release a statement on the raid, The Hindu said.

It was not immediately clear what prompted the incident, but some news outlets said authorities have accused the Kashmir Times of promoting activities against the state.

The Kashmir Times rejected that allegation, describing the raid on its office as “yet another attempt to silence us”.

“The bizarre allegations against us are baseless”, the news outlet said in a statement shared on its website on Thursday. &nbsp, “Criticising the government is not the same as being inimical to the state. In fact, it is the very opposite”, it said.

“A robust, questioning press is essential to a healthy democracy. Our work of holding power to account, investigating corruption, amplifying marginalised voices strengthens our nation. It does not weaken it”.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a global press freedom organisation, also raised concerns about the raid and called on police to return any documents or other property that was seized.

“The raid on the Kashmir Times office is deeply troubling and raises concerns about increasing pressure on media outlets in Jammu and Kashmir”, Kunal Majumder, CPJ’s Asia-Pacific programme coordinator, said in a statement.

“Authorities must clearly explain the legal basis for this action and ensure that any investigation is conducted with transparency and full respect for due process. News outlets should not face punitive action simply for doing their journalistic work”.

In 2019, India revoked the special status for Indian-administered Kashmir, which had given the area a degree of autonomy.

Additionally, the Indian government splits Kashmir into Jammu and Kashmir in the west and Ladakh in the east, which will be under the direct rule of New Delhi.

Kashmir’s population is overwhelmingly Muslim. India controls the southern and southern regions of the country, including the Kashmir Valley and its largest city, Srinagar, as well as Jammu and Ladakh, while Pakistan controls the northern and western regions, which are Azad Kashmir, Gilgit, and Baltistan.

Since the end of British colonial rule, India and Pakistan have engaged in territorial disputes over Kashmir. The partition resulted in the creation of Muslim-majority Pakistan and Hindu-majority India in 1947. Both nations continue to assert claims over Kashmir’s entire region.

According to CPJ’s Asia-Pacific Program Coordinator Kunal Majumder, “the raid on the Kashmir Times office is deeply troubling and raises concerns about growing pressure on Jammu and Kashmir media outlets.” Authorities must “ensure and clearly explain the legal basis for this action.”

The Netherlands has announced that it will return&nbsp, control of chipmaker Nexperia to its Chinese parent company, a step towards resolving a standoff between The&nbsp, Hague and Beijing that upended automotive supply chains.

Dutch Economic Affairs Minister Vincent Karremans said on Wednesday that he&nbsp, had suspended an order to effectively seize control of the chipmaker following “constructive” talks with Chinese officials and consultations with European and international partners.

“We are positive about the measures already taken by the Chinese authorities to ensure the supply of chips to Europe and the rest of the world”, Karremans said in a statement.

“We see this as a show of goodwill. We will continue to engage in constructive dialogue with the Chinese authorities in the period ahead”.

China’s Ministry of Commerce welcomed the announcement as a “first step”, but called for the full revocation of the order, describing it as the “root cause” of the supply chain disruptions.

It also criticised a Dutch court’s “erroneous ruling” last month that forced out Nexperia’s Chinese CEO, Zhang Xuezheng, over alleged mismanagement.

Jo Van Biesebroeck, an economics professor at KU Leuven, said Europe’s efforts to craft a strategy for managing China’s involvement in critical supply chains were a “work in progress”.

“The Nexperia action was triggered by specific actions, and the main worry now seems to be diminished with the personnel change at Nexperia”, Biesebroeck told Al Jazeera.

“The Dutch government made clear how far it is willing to go, and it seems like China has met them halfway”.

The Dutch government took effective control of Nexperia, owned by Jiaxing-based Wingtech, in late September, citing the need to ensure chip supplies amid concerns Zhang could move manufacturing operations and intellectual property to China.

The move came after the United States had warned the Netherlands that the company would likely be placed on its list of sanctioned firms unless it replaced Zhang, though Dutch officials have denied acting due to pressure from Washington.

Beijing condemned the Dutch government’s intervention, invoked under the Cold War-era Goods Availability Act, as an act of “improper interference” in a company’s affairs and blocked exports of some Nexperia products manufactured in China in response.

Japanese carmakers Honda and Nissan were forced to cut back production amid the resulting disruption to supply chains, while Germany’s Mercedes-Benz announced that it had taken steps to secure chip supplies in the short term.