The tragedy of 39 families across the country has been made keener because of the four years of hope that preceded it. Life is always difficult for the families of migrant labourers who go to work abroad in low-skilled jobs because of poverty. For these workers, especially those who go to strife-torn countries, security is never a given. Some of the workers of the group of 40 who had left for Iraq had called their homes in 2014 to say that they had been abducted by the Islamic State. The agony of waiting for news must have been somewhat mitigated for the loved ones by the repeated assurances from the government, mainly Sushma Swaraj, the Union minister for external affairs, that the matter was being looked into as a priority and that there was nothing to indicate that the men were not alive. Since they had been kept in or close to Mosul, under the control of the IS till it was freed from the extremists in 2017 after a nine-month struggle, specific news was apparently difficult to get. Only after Mosul was accessible again did the government begin to collect DNA from the families. The implication was clear: at least of what the government suspected.

It is reasonable that the government could not have said that the men were dead without proof. But certain questions are unavoidable. Whatever Ms Swaraj may have said in all her truthfulness, it is not credible that members of the bereaved families would claim that they were repeatedly given the impression that their men were safe - were actually so told - if that did not happen. They must have been afraid of the worst already, so they could not have kept on hoping unless the assurances were strong enough. Besides, it also must be asked why the single survivor who reported the deaths of the others long before the Battle of Mosul was dismissed. It does look as though a feel-good atmosphere was more important to the government than the possibility of a cruel truth. After all, this government likes to claim special credit for the 'rescue' of endangered workers from abroad. In this light, the strange failure of 'solid' intelligence sources - first six, then eight - is an impenetrable mystery. These were far more valuable to the government than the survivor's account. And the government was ham-handed till the end. Why did the families come to know of their loss from television news?