Sandya Ekneligoda, the wife of disappeared journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda has handed over a letter to Army Commander Lt. Gen Mahesh Senanayake requesting his assistance in the probe into the disappearance of her husband.
In the letter Sandya Ekneligoda noted that its been eight years since her husband had disappeared on January 24, 2010, but had received little or no help in tracing what had happened to Prageeth Ekneligoda. She accused the system of favouring the guilty while continuously penalising the victims.
In her letter she said she respected the security forces as a disciplined force, where the image of the entire force should not be tarnished by the actions of a handful. Therefore, she urged the Army Commander to assist in the continuation of the investigations and help to bring those responsible to book.
Army Commander Lt. General Mahesh Senanayake told Daily News that the army will certainly continue to assist in any investigations without bias.
However, he noted that the investigations had commenced in 2015, and at that time he himself was out of the army. But, he said while those responsible should be brought to book, one should bear in mind that a soldier is not in a position to question an order that has been given.
Therefore it is not the soldier, but the person who gave the order that should be held responsible and punished. “That is why the CID should continue the investigations and find out those responsible. The army works on teamwork. Therefore, if an army person, be it a lower ranker or upper ranker, has done something wrong he will be punished. I cannot run an army of thugs,” the Commander added.
The case pertaining to the disappearance of Prageeth Ekneligoda was taken up in Court on Tuesday, but as the army had asked for further time for the investigation, it was postponed to February 8.