Is Prageeth Ekneligoda a Journalist?
Posted on February 25th, 2016

Shenali D Waduge

The OHCHR/UNHRC Head have used successive resolutions/reports and statements to claim that one Prageeth Ekneligoda a journalist and cartoonist had disappeared. A joint submission by NGO at the UPR in 2012 also claimed Prageeth to be a cartoonist and writer and many other human rights organizations have claimed the same. However, Daily Mirror’s News Editor Sandun Jayasekera says I have been serving as a journalist for 30 years now. As far as I know, this person being mentioned has never written any item of news or hosted a tv program or even attended a press conference. The question I have is how Prageeth Ekneligoda became a journalist”. Minister Dilan Perera answered that by saying the Free Media Movement was the first to come out with the claim. Now this is startling news. The UNHRC/OHCHR and all others who include Prageeth Ekneligoda as a missing ‘journalist’ has some serious explaining to do.

The name Ekneligoda is associated with the Kandyan Chieftan who led the capture of the last King of Sri Lanka Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe on 18 February 1815 that ending 2357 years of royal rule. He even killed Udupitiya Arachchi who was protecting the King in his house. Ekneligoda nilame is remembered as a traitor for siding with the British to capture and handover the King and going to the extent of kicking the King until the British had to stop him before body harm was done. Ekneligoda’s men grabbed the earrings of the Queen leaving her bleeding. Ekneligoda even went to the extent of tying the King with a creeper before delivering him proudly to the British.



The king had been stripped almost naked, abused in filthy language, kicked, spat upon and finally attempted to tie like a pig (all fours, hands and legs to be tied to a pole).”

The British arrived and STOPPED the Sinhala Barbarians from further humiliating her and provided her clothes to wear”

The STOLEN garments of the king Sri Vickrama Rajasinghe and the blood soaked garments of the queen Venkathi Rangammal was taken home by the Kiriporuwe Mohottala and hidden inside a wooden chest.

 It is said that all those born with the Ekneligoda name carry a limp (karma for kicking a King) and it would be interesting to see if the present Ekneligoda also carries the same traits/genes.

Returning to the recent claim by Sandun Jayasekera, what we need to ask is

  • Who turned Prageeth Ekneligoda into a journalist?
  • If Prageeth Ekneligoda is not a journalist why was he turned into one?
  • If he is not a journalist who is he, how did he earn his living and who was he working for?
  • Can someone name a newspaper he was working for or produce a cartoon a newspaper has published. Google searches leave no result.
  • Who informed UNHRC/OHCHR that Prageeth was a journalist and what mechanisms does the OHCHR/UNHRC have internally to vouch for the authenticity of these claims. If Sandun is correct, then OHCHR need to issue a statement regarding how they came to accept Prageeth as a journalist to include him into the allegations made against the State/Sri Lankan Army. This is a very grave faux pas if UNHRC/OHCHR is just quoting names and making allegations without verifying.
  • If Prageeth is not a journalist and has been given international publicity because he was a ‘missing journalist’ a lot of people have a lot of explaining to do. UNHRC/OHCHR never gives the type of publicity it has given for any of the civilians killed by LTTE during the last 30 years but to appear on successive UNHRC/OHCHR reports/statements and even resolutions is a major hiccup on the part of the UN organization and we look forward to an official statement from them explaining this new position.
  • Several military intelligence officers are in prison based on the allegation that Prageeth Ekneligoda is a journalist. But if that is not so, we are back to square one!


If Prageeth is not a journalist who is he? Who can answer?

 Shenali D Waduge

9 Responses to “Is Prageeth Ekneligoda a Journalist?”

  1. NeelaMahaYoda Says:

    එක්නැලිගොඩ මාධ්‍යවේදියකු නොවේ…යහපාලනයම කියයි
    “ඔපරේෂන් ඩබල් ඒජ්” මෙහෙයුම ක්‍රියාත්මක කරමින් එජාපයේද සහය ඇතිව මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා ඝාතනය කිරිමට උත්සහ කල කොටි ඔත්තුකරු ප්‍රගීත් එක්‌නැලිගොඩ යනු මාධ්‍යවේදීයෙකු නොවන බවත් හිටපු ආරක්ෂක ලේකම්වරයා වරදකරුවෙකු කිරිම සදහා නිදහස් මාධ්‍ය ව්‍යාපාරය විසින් එක්නැලිගොඩ මාධ්‍යවේදීයෙකු කර බොරු නඩුවක් ගොතාගෙන තිබේන බව අද අනාවරණය වුනා. කියවන්න –මහින්ද,අමාත්‍යවරුන් හා රාජ්‍ය නිලධාරින් …


  2. Susantha Wijesinghe Says:

    SHENALI !!!

    At the very outset, the most pertinent question is:- IS PRAGEETH EKNELIGODA A JOURNALIST. ???

    From all what I have read from this posting, and from what News Editor, Daily Mirror, Sandun Jayasekere say is that, HE BEING A JOURNALIST for thirty odd years, has not heard of Prageeth as a Journalist, nor has he seen any of his News Items, Never heard of him as a TV Presenter, or that he has never attended a Press Conference. THEN WHO THE HECK IS THIS MAN PRAGEETH.

    It is my point of view, (no malice intended) that Prageeth would have served in LankaEnews, probably in the Printing Department, as a mechanic or held some office job, probably as a Clerk, or some sort of assistant. It could be that the Family, in inferiority mode complex, try to showcase him as a Journalist for self pride and family aggrandizement I saw in some news items that he had leanings towards the LTTE. It is only assumed that he is dead. NO BODY FOUND. He could be still living, as someone implied that he was seen in Brussels.

    The best people who could actually shed some light, are his close friends, and relatives, other than his Wife, who has already established that he was a Journalist. Even LankaEnews employees could shed some light on this matter. Any Senior Journalist of his contemporary era could vouch for Prageeth as a Journalist. THIS WHOLE THING IS SURROUNDED IN MYSTERY.

    Shenali, I read the other links and learnt a lot of History, which I was not aware of.

  3. Charles Says:

    I read some where that Ekneligoda had written an article to LankaNews or Lakbima on certain sexual traits of Minister Champika Ranawake. May be he was a journalist of sordid dirty material concernaning people.

  4. Sooriarachi Says:

    Actions and statements of the UNHRC on international as well as local issues of sovereign nations, seem to show it to be a political animal, doing the dirty work of those nations, organisations and even individuals, providing pecuniary resources for the UNHRC to survive, with fat salaries for those holding high office.
    Prior to 2009, there were several deaths of journalists in Sri Lanka and though almost all were killed accidentally by being present in conflict zones and also, deliberately by the LTTE terrorists, (other than the deaths of Richard Zoysa and Lasantha Wickrematunga), the blame for journalist deaths was squarely pinned on the Rajapaksa Government, to embarrass the regime.
    As there were no known deaths of journalists in the 6 years since the end of the conflict in 2009, to justify UNHRC allegation that the Rajapakse regime was life threatening for independent journalists, they may have wanted to make Ekneliyagoda also a ‘journalist’ who disappeared even after the conflict ended, thus making it look as if the deaths of journalists, both pre and post 2009, were deliberate and linked to the previous regime.

  5. Dham Says:

    Let him be a journalist, who cares ?

    His wife recently claimed he had evidence against our armed forces using cluster bombs.
    Shouldn’t she be interrogated ?
    Shouldn’t a full investigation on this statement be carried out to clear the good name of our armed forces ?
    Shouldn’t so called “good opposition” initiate this important action if they love the country.

  6. ranjit Says:

    Out of million lies this is one that these UNPer’s uttered to deceive the public during the election campaign. All their sweet talks are lies.After one year still they continue lying to the people. They Govern the country like dictators and thugs.Ranil has become a thug cum joker. Their days are numbered if they go on like this.All the curses of the people will come to them back very soon.What UNP traitors have done to Sri Lanka is worse than any other has done. They always took our country backward and ruined the economy and everything.They have more thieves and murderers than any other party.They were responsible for thousand deaths during their times of Governing. If not for Rajapaksas war will be there still and many of our sons and daughters would have been dead by this time. Five useless leaders failed to stop the war and now talking bullshit and trying to take the credit for ending the war. Ponnaseka is talking big but if not for Rajapaksas he is nothing but a thief and a bully.

    Eknelgoda should be treated as a terrorist and a traitor.This case is purely to take revenge from Rajapaksas.I curse them all for their evil acts upon innocent heroes.Get united to save our country from local and foreign evil minds.

  7. Dr.K Says:

    Yahapalana ‘Toyiyos’ have to answer this question. Is Prageeth Eknaligoda a journalist?

    If you say yes, then let us know a few articles he has published or programmes he has presented.

  8. Fran Diaz Says:

    A number of news items stated that Mr Eknaligoda was stopped in Europe. The witnesses who saw him should come forward and confirm, under protection.

  9. Fran Diaz Says:

    Error : read ‘stopped’ as ‘spotted’ – sorry computer glitch.


    The loads of bs from Yahap increases by the day. I am ashamed of this govt. !! Surely Lanka cannot fall further down – it has already hit rock bottom ….

    Here is a relevant article on Mr Eknaligoda. He was last seen in Brussels, Belgium.

    එක්නැලිගොඩ බෙල්ජියමේ ජීවතුන් අතරයි… මට විශ්වාසයි.. – අරුන්දික
    February 27, 2016 at 2:10 pm | lanka C news
    එක්නැලිගොඩ බෙල්ජියමේ ජීවතුන් අතරයි… මට විශ්වාසයි.. – අරුන්දික
    අතුරැදහන් බව කියන ප‍්‍රගීත් එක්නැලිගොඩ බෙල්ජියමේ බ‍්‍රසල්ස් නුවර සිටින්නේ යයි තමන් තවමත් විශ්වාස කරන බව නියෝජ්‍ය ඇමති අරුන්දික ප‍්‍රනාන්දු මහතා පවසයි.

    මාධ්‍යවේදී මංජුල වෙඩිවර්ධන තම පාසල් මිතුරා කල හෙළි කිරීම ගැන තමන් ඒ දිනවල පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේදී තියා සිටි බවත් හෝමාගම අධිකරණයට ප‍්‍රකාශයක් දී තිබෙන ඔහු කියා සිටියේය.

    එක්නැලිගොඩ අතුරුදන්වීම ගැන විධිමත් පරීක්ෂණයක් කරන්නැයි රජයෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටින්නේ යයිද ප‍්‍රනාන්දු මහතා වැඩිදුරටත් කීය.

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