When There Is No Body to Bury !

By Sunahwar Ali

For the families of the 22 Bangladeshi migrants who perished in the Mediterranean Sea, the horror of loss is compounded by an unthinkable reality:

there will be no body to bury.
Their sons, brothers, husbands — young men from Sylhet who dreamed of a better life — were discarded into the sea after two days on an overcrowded boat.

The families will never receive what remains of their loved ones.

For a mother who raised her son from infancy, the absence of a body makes grief infinitely more complex.

There is no final embrace.
No closure.
Only an open wound that never begins to heal.

The Unique Torment
Psychologists call this ambiguous loss — a loved one is physically absent but not fully gone.
The mind remains trapped between hope and despair, unable to settle into acceptance.
For Bangladeshi Muslim families, the rituals of death — the janazah, the burial, the gathering of community — provide structure for grief. When no body returns, these rituals are suspended.
The family is left in limbo, unable to mourn fully, unable to move forward.
One mother from Sunamganj asked: “How do I say goodbye when I don’t know where he is?”

How Families Cope
Acceptance is not a single event but a long, painful process. These approaches can help:
1. Create alternative rituals.
Hold a memorial service, plant a tree, dedicate a space in the home. These acts provide a focus for grief.
2. Seek community support.
Isolation deepens sorrow. Accept help from neighbors, relatives, and community organisations.
3. Professional counselling. Trauma often requires professional support. Culturally sensitive mental health services can make a profound difference.
4. Faith and spirituality.
Belief that the soul has returned to Allah can offer solace.
Those who die at sea are considered martyrs (shahid) in Islamic tradition.
5. Tell their stories.
Speak their names.
Share their dreams. Remembrance transforms loss into legacy.

A Collective Responsibility: Justice Must Be Served
While families navigate personal grief, the community and state have obligations — chief among them: criminals like Aziz and his network must not go unpunished.
For too long, names such as Aziz of Sunamganj and other local recruiters have circulated in community discussions as key figures in these trafficking networks.
They operate with impunity, protected by local influence and the failures of the system. They profit from death while families are left with nothing but debt and grief.

This must end now.
Accountability demands:
·Recognition: Formal acknowledgment of the deceased, not as statistics but as human beings.
·Support: Financial assistance to cover debts taken to pay traffickers. Counselling services in affected districts.
·Justice:
Swift arrest, asset seizure, and prosecution of Aziz and all traffickers.
No more protection.
No more impunity.
·Prevention:
Safe, legal migration pathways and economic investment in Sylhet are the only long-term solutions.
The blood of these young souls demands accountability. Until every trafficker is brought to justice, the families will never find peace.

A Message to the Grieving
To the mothers of Sunamganj, Jagannathpur, Derai, and every village that lost a son:
your pain is seen. Your tears are not wasted.
The absence of a body does not diminish the life that was lived. Your son’s laughter, his hopes, his dreams — these remain with you, held in your heart until you meet again.

But know this: we will not rest until those who stole your sons from you face the full force of the law.
Aziz and all criminals like him will be held accountable.