In pictures: Missing Sri Lankan artist is remembered
- Published
Monday 24 January is the first anniversary of the unexplained kidnapping and disappearance of Prageeth Eknaligoda, a Sri Lankan cartoonist and website writer critical of the government. (Pictures courtesy of Prageeth Eknaligoda Foundation)
His wife Sandya and elder son Sanjaya recently joined a demonstration demanding the authorities do more to find him and identify the kidnappers.
In his cartoons, Prageeth Eknaligoda depicted issues of media freedom, political power and social disadvantage. This one shows rural children denied a good education.
This picture depicts education being engulfed by power politics.
Here Mr Eknaligoda makes the point that human rights abuses happened in Sri Lanka even though it had a democratically elected government. The image is entitled: "If the will of the majority is identified as democracy..."
Mr Eknaligoda went missing two days before presidential elections in Sri Lanka. He was a strong critic of abuses during the war with Tamil Tiger separatists. This picture is entitled: "War is a self-destructive way to barbarity".
He was also adept at depicting the quirks of fate that often happen throughout the course of life. This image is entitled: "Your passionate dream can be the noose of the other."
In a picture that in some ways may have been a premonition of what fate had in store for him, this drawing is called: "At least there should be the freedom to suffer."
This pictorial indictment of censorship is called: "The lunacy of history is hostile to the freedom of the media." Mr Eknaligoda worked for a pro-opposition website, Lankanews.com.
The father of two children, Mr Eknaligoda contributed immensely to news reporting in his country, writing hundreds of features and news items. This sketch is called: "Providing your eyesight is the media's sacred duty."
This is the second time that he has been kidnapped. Earlier he was abducted and questioned while tied to an iron rod with metal ropes. This image is entitled: "Ideology is power but when it becomes a weapon, it is self-destructive."
The title of this picture is: "If we lose our voice." The authorities say they are doing their best to solve the cases of attacks on the media but international surveys of media freedom consistently rank Sri Lanka in a low place.
Meanwhile Mr Eknaligoda's supporters will remember his reporting and drawing brilliance. This image is called "Peace and life".