Plot to kill me, cries Sharif

As the Pakistan's People Party-led government today launched countrywide crackdown to derail a PML-N supported mass rally, Pakistan's top Opposition leader Nawaz Sharif has accused the government of plotting to kill him.

Pakistan was on the brink of political chaos, with an imminent showdown between the defiant former premier Sharif and the government, which launched a crackdown on opposition activists and lawyers ahead of today's planned 'Long March' for the reinstatement of the judiciary dismissed by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf.

Protesters today vowed to press ahead with the march onto Pakistan's parliament in defiance of bans.

Sharif, who has been threatened with slapping of sedation charges, said he had received "certain information from own sources, credible sources, about certain forces who are active against me".

"Threats to my life come from high-ranking government officials, certain topmost people in the government, my sources say," the former premier said without giving any details.

"The risks are there. I can't abandon my mission because of the risks. It's a very noble cause. A mission to put the country back on the road to democracy," he was quoted as saying by the Guardian today.