Kashmir Solidarity Day or Kashmir Day, is a national holiday in Pakistan and also observed by Kashmiri nationalists on 5 February each year. It is in observance of Pakistan’s support of and unity with the people of Indian-administered Kashmir, the nationalists’ efforts to separate from India, and to pay homage to Kashmiris who have died in the conflict. Solidarity rallies are held in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan and by Mirpuri Kashmiris in the United Kingdom.
Kashmir Day was first proposed by Qazi Hussain Ahmad of the Jamaat-e-Ialami party in Pakistan in 1990. In 1991, the then-Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif called for a “Kashmir Solidarity Day Strike”. Sharif had come to power with the help of Jamaat the previous year. The 1991 event still a Jamaat affair. The present Kashmir Solidarity Day was started by the Pakistan minister of Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas in 2004.