Prageeth Ekneligoda's abduction and disappearance:

Enough with the dithering, reveal the truth

by Ranil Wijayapala

(Groundviews)

Investigations into the disappearance of cartoonist and journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda amidst attempts by certain groups to divert the investigations towards different directions have once again been put on the right track with the Criminal Investigation Department taking in more Army personnel for questioning.

The prime focus of the investigation now is to ascertain as to what exactly happened to Ekneligoda after he was abducted and taken to the Giritale Army camp where the Army Intelligence Unit allegedly maintained a torture chamber to question people detained from different parts of the country.

According to Acting Police Spokesman, SSP Priyantha Jayakody, investigations by the CID are continuing and no conclusion has been made as to what had exactly happened to Ekneligoda after his abduction, two days prior to the 2010 Presidential polls.

The Police Spokesman said a new detention order has been signed by the newly appointed Defence Secretary, Karunaratne Hettiarachi, who assumed duties last week to detain the four Army personnel earlier handed over to the CID by the Sri Lanka Army, for further interrogation.

According to the new detention order, the four Army personnel arrested by the CID will be kept

in detention for another 30 days as the earlier detention order signed by former Defence Secretary to detain them for 14 days lapsed on August 10.

According to the Acting Police Spokesman, 10 Army personnel including two Army personnel surrendered to the CID early last week are now under CID custody for questioning. These Army personnel connected to the Army Intelligence Unit have been arrested by the CID based on information elicited from those detained earlier.

The ten Army personnel include two Lt. Colonels, one Second Lieutenant, Sergeant Major, Staff Sergeant and Corporals. The CID initially detained two rehabilitated ex-LTTE combatants who had worked with the Army Intelligence Unit and they have divulged information that Ekneligoda was abducted by them and later handed over to the Giritale Army camp. The CID, according to sources, had arrested the two ex-LTTE combatants based on the telephone numbers used by Ekneligoda prior to his abduction.

Pseudo LTTE

Pradeep Ekneligoda (lh3.ggpht.com)

With this revelation, diverse views were expressed by people including media personnel over the exact reason behind Ekneligodas abduction. There were reports to suggest that he was abducted by a pseudo LTTE secretly operated by the Army. But that claim was dismissed by the Army and the former Army Commander Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka.

The relationship Ekneligoda had with the two ex-LTTE combatants Thavendran and Nagulan, who had later worked with the Army intelligence Unit was made use of by some segments of the media to label him as someone who worked with the LTTE and also to raise doubts as to whether there had been any link between his journalistic career and disappearance.

It is sad to note that some journalist had questioned whether Ekneligoda was really a journalist or not and raised questions about assistance extended to his immediate family by international media organisations following his disappearance.

Ekneligoda's earlier abduction on August 29, 2009 was investigated by the CID to ascertain whether there was any link between his disappearance and the earlier abduction. However, the truth about his earlier abduction has not been officially made public by the Police.

According to information from the current investigations it is clear that Ekneligoda had been abducted and detained by the Army Intelligence Unit and caused his disappearance after an interrogation at the Giritale camp. Though there is no conclusion by the Police investigations it is clear that Ekneligoda is not living and the need of the hour is to ascertain as to who had directed the Army Intelligence Unit to abduct him.

Though there is speculation to suggest that it was under the directions of former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa the Army Intelligence Unit had abducted and detained people, the real hand behind Ekneligoda's abduction should be brought to light without allowing the truth to be buried again.

Questions should be raised as to why the disappearance of Ekneligoda was taken lightly by the former UPFA Government, which made no attempt to conduct any investigation. It was UPFA Puttalam District MP Arundika Fernando, now a Deputy Minister who said in Parliament in 2013 that Ekneligoda was living with his wife in France. However later he denied his statement saying that some people have introduced a person by the name of Ekneligoda while he was in France.

Real perpetrators

Former Attorney General Mohan Peiris also made a statement in 2012 while addressing a UN conference on those had disappeared that Ekneligoda was alive and living out of the country. But later he also changed his words when he was summoned by the Homagama Magistrate to give evidence on the Ekneligoda disappearance case. Mohan Peiris told Court he made that statement based on intelligence reports but he was not aware of the authenticity of those reports. Therefore, the time has come to put an end to speculation and find out the real perpetrators behind Ekneligoda's abduction and disappearance.

I never met Ekneligoda -Arundika

Arundika Fernando (puttalamonline.com)

Deputy Minister of Tourism Promotion and Christian Affairs, Arundhika Fernando, told the Sunday Observer that he had not met Prageeth Ekneligoda personally and it was his friend Manjula Wediwardena, a Sri Lankan journalist in France, who pointed to a person and identified him as Ekneligoda.

"That is what I told in Parliament later. I have also made available whatever information I have to the Homagama Court. I have nothing more to say, specially at a time when there is an ongoing investigation on Ekneligoda's disappearance," he said.