The past few months have been one of the most challenging times to report from Sri Lanka, but this has never been a particularly easy war to cover.

The Tamil Tigers have now been pushed into a tiny corner of the country. But they have always ruled any areas under their control with an iron hand.

Dissent has never been accepted - and many Tamil critics of the LTTE have been murdered over the years.

The Sri Lankan authorities have also become intolerant of criticism. Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse told me during a trip to Sri Lanka this year that in a time of war all dissent was treason.

A few days later, in a front-page newspaper report, he accused me of supporting the Tamil Tigers and threatened to "chase me out" of the country.