Kashmir Day was first proposed by Qazi Hussain Ahmad of the Jamaat-e-Islami party in Pakistan in 1990.[3] In 1991, the then-Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif called for a "Kashmir Solidarity Day Strike".[4] Sharif had come to power with the help of Jamaat the previous year. The 1991 event was still a Jamaat affair.[5] The present Kashmir Solidarity Day was started by the Pakistan minister of Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas in 2004.[6]