Prageeth , the man who believed in democracy

Prageeth , the man who believed in democracy

3 weeks have passed after the disappearance of Prageeth Eknaligoda , the freelance writer attached to Lanka E-News web news paper. This was not the first time he has been kidnapped. Few months ago he had been taken by a few men who were in civil dresses and had released him after informing him that, bringing him was a mistake. At the same time he had been threatened not to write “unnecessary things” against the government.
Prageeth is a loving husband and an affectionate father of two children having many talents like their father.

If we closely look at the writings of Prageeth, it is crystal clear that he’s arguing on very valid points using his expertise knowledge on economics, sociology as well as politics. He wrote in such an objective way that no one can oppose his arguments as they were based on theories and the practical current situation as well. He was educating the readers on different aspects but the main focus was on democracy, the silver feather which we pretend and feel like having but are not even close to be able to touch. He was not a writer who was rousing the public to take the weapons and kill each other to save the caste or creed from the other one who lives under the same tree but an academic who had a great vision for the country and was living hard with a throbbing heart for the declining humanity in the country.

Now, let’s look at the scene which was followed by the second disappearance. Soon after realizing that something has gone wrong with her husband, Prageeth’s wife had gone to the Homagama police station to lodge a complain. The response was strange.(In fact that is the most natural answer you can get from the police nowadays). The police was so sure that Prageeth has hidden somewhere by his own. Shocked with this response, she somehow had made the police to lodge complain and started to search for her husband. Ignoring the pleading tears of his innocent children and wife, the government irresponsibly and inhumanly stated that it was a trick of the opposition party played to make the government unpopular. The president and his government has been repeatedly accusing the media, individuals as well as the institutions for having a different perspective from what they have. Resently reactivated press council act too gives a massive freedom to practice the monopoly on media.
The most important restrictions are in clause 16. Subsection 3 states: “No person shall publish or cause to be published in any newspaper any official secret within the meaning of the Official Secrets Act or any matter relating to military, naval, air-force or police establishments, equipment or installation which is likely to be prejudicial to the defence and security of the Republic of Sri Lanka”.
On the other hand, how was the Police at the first instant was so certain about the “hiding” of Prageeth? Is that a strategy of them to entirely be out of the seen? This is a democratic country (as being said) where the CID squads are resourced and powered to conduct in person investigations against small scale future predictors who come up with just a small negative prediction about the president. Yet, this well known journalist has been vanished without even leaving any trace. The government is so confidently repeating that he has been kidnapped by “himself”. Only one man from the government had the courage and humanity to express the sympathy and willingness to help to find Prageeth, and it was Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa who resigned from the failed position of Media Minister.

Through out the history, at different phases, this country has lost enough great journalists who had strong back bones to stand against the tyranny. It lost Premakeerthi de Alwis; it lost Richerd Soysa; it lost Nimalarajan; it lost Lasantha Wickramathunga and many others. It had to suffer with the pain of many good men who were thrown in to the guillotine for the sin of hunting for truth. They were like stars burnt themselves to give the light to the world. Can this failing country bear such losses anymore? Is it again going to silently accept it?

-Sorba----

ප්‍රගීත් එක්නැලිගොඩ නිදහස් මාධ්‍යවේදියා අතුරුදහන් වි දැනට සති තුනක් ඉකුත් වී ඇති මුත් රජය තවමත් පවසන්නේ ඔහු සිය කැමැත්තෙන් නැතිවි සිටින බවයි. මෙය මුසාවකට, විහිළුවකට වඩා භයානක දෙයක් බව‍ට පත් වන්නේ එය ඔහුගේ ජීවිතය පිළිබද තිරණාත්මක කරුණක් වන බැවිනි. එයින්ද ඔබ්බට ගොස් එය ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ මූලික අයිතිවාසිකම් ගලග්‍රහණයෙන් ගෙන නාසි වාදයේ හක්කෙහි තබයි.
මේ රට, කශේරුකාවන් සහිතව ලියූ මාධ්‍යවේදීන් සුළුතරයෙන් බහුතරයක් අහිමි කොට ගෙන තිබේ. එයට වගකිව යුත්තේ ජනාධිපතිවරු හා ආණ්ඩු පමණක් නොවේ.මේ සියල්ල නිහඩව අනුමත කරන ගොළුව මුණිවත රකින කෝටි දෙකක් මහජනතාවද වගකිව යුතුය.

-සොර්බා