"Having failed to govern the country, the government has patronised militants to hang on to power and they can take any step which is against the constitution, the country and its people," Hasina said at a press conference.

Asked if she fears any possibility of unconstitutional change of power, the Awami League (AL) chief said, "Yes, we do."

Hasina was addressing the press conference at her Dhanmondi office on the recent activities of the Islamist militants across the country.

Earlier on Friday, a meeting of the AL Central Working Committee took the resolution that "the party is against any change of power by unconstitutional means".

Rejecting the prime minister's call for dialogue to tackle militancy, Hasina said the dialogue proposal is nothing but a "farce" to confuse people. "Is it that the alliance government actually wants to give more time to the militants to gain more strength by killing time in the name of dialogue instead of curbing militants?" Hasina said.

"The nation today is united against militancy and does not need any call from the prime minister. People rather urge the prime minister to stop patronising the militants and using the terrorists against the state to cling to power," Hasina said.

"Resignation of the failed government is the only way to stop bomb terrorism in the country," she added.

"How can killers and victims sit together in a dialogue? The remote control of the militant terrorism is with the government. It is with their signals that terrorism starts and pauses as it has been proved during the Saarc Summit," Hasina said.

"It was the government's prime duty to detect the origin of the militants. Instead of doing that the government shifted the blame on the opposition," Hasina said.

Even some BNP men are now voicing against their leaders and the Jamaat for protecting the militants, but the government has taken action against those voices, the opposition leader said.

On the business community's call for deploying armed forces to tackle the situation in the wake of recurring bomb attacks, she said the situation will not be improved until the government takes action against its ministers, lawmakers and the coalition partner Jamaat-e-Islami, which patronises militancy.

"If deployed, the army will not be able to work independently as the government will use it for political purpose," Hasina said, adding that this government had deployed the armed forces in the past only to harass the opposition.

The regular law enforcement agencies can tackle militancy if the government allows it to work independently and neutrally, she opined.

Terming Jamaat the main patron of different militant outfits like Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh, Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh and Harkatul Jihad, the opposition leader urged the countrymen to boycott Jamaat-e-Islami politically, socially and economically.

Quoting from the Holy Qur'an and the Hadith, Hasina said Islam never supports killing of innocent people.

She pledged that the AL will uproot militants and terrorism from the country with the help of people if it is voted to power again.

AL leaders Zillur Rahman, Obaidul Quader, Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, Kazi Jafarullah, Saber Hossain Chowdhury, Dr Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, Syeda Zohra Tajuddin, Mukul Bose, Sultan Mohammad Mansur and Mostafa Jalal Mohiuddin were present at the press conference.