Chumoukedima, Nagaland, May 8 (HBTV): The Kohima Peace Memorial and Eco-Park has been inaugurated on May 8 in Kohima with the ambassador of Japan to India Suzuki Hiroshi attending the event as a special guest.      

The government publicity agency Information and Public Relations department gave updates about the program.     

Speaking at the inaugural program, Suzuki Hiroshi expressed sympathy and condolences to the people of Nagaland who were ‘caught in the crossfire during the war between Japanese forces and the British Commonwealth Forces eighty years ago.’ 

The envoy said the people of Nagaland ‘who had nothing to do with the war, inevitably had to go through a great ordeal where many were coerced into cooperation and many people lost their lives and most people were forced to flee from the land of their ancestors.’ 

Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio also spoke at the program. He said that the event marked an important milestone in the narrative of the Naga-Japan partnership, which although started under the cloud of conflict, it had today matured into one that advocates peace and brotherhood. 

Rio highlighted how Nagaland’s association with Japan had started almost five decades ago through the Japan Association for the recovery and repatriation of war casualties. He added that the inauguration of the Kohima Peace Memorial is the expression of the Naga people’s commitment to forge stronger ties between Japan and Nagaland.