It was founded in 1986 by Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi after he had a disagreement with Benazir Bhutto, subsequently leaving the Pakistan Peoples Party.

[2][3] The National People's Party was founded in 1986 by Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, who brought together a number of political heavyweights from all over Pakistan under its banner.

Zafar, Hamid Raza Gilani, Malik Hamid Sarfraz, Nawab Ghaus Bux Raisani, Kamal Azfar, Mian Sajid Pervaiz, Nafees Siddiqui, Rana Muhammad Hanif Khan, Akhtar Hussain Shah, Rabbani Khar and Aftab Shah Gilani.

Irfan Abbasi was the media coordinator of the National People's Party He had also worked in the Sukkur Division as an information secretary.

In September 1988, the newly formed NPP, the center-right Pakistan Muslim League headed by Muhammad Khan Junejo, and the religious-political Jamaat-e-Islami headed by Qazi Hussain Ahmad along with six other political parties formed an anti-PPP coalition called Islami Jamhoori Ittehad or simply IJI.