“BNP (Bangladesh Nationalist Party) and Jamaat (e-Islami) are seeking unrest and political instability by resorting to violent activities. I urge our people to rise up and thwart their bids,” Hasina told a news conference.

The BNP, led by former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia, has announced a two-week campaign of agitation featuring “cross-country road marches” and rallies in three cities.

Khaleda announced the plan at a Dhaka rally last week, trying to fire up her bid to oust Hasina, who took office in early 2009 and is due to end her term by end of 2013.

Hasina and Khaleda, both relatives of former leaders, have alternated as prime minister since 1991.

Their rivalry has defined politics in the poverty-ridden country, sharply divided its 160 million people and pushed the south Asian nation into bouts of violence.

Political instability has made foreign investors reluctant and aid donors nervous though the country has cheap labor and attractive government incentives, analysts say.

The BNP and its closed ally, Jamaat, have vowed to topple the government within the next year. Hasina’s Awami League has dismissed that as a “fool’s dream.”

Last month, militant Jamaat activists — demanding the release of their top leaders who have been held in prison on charges of war crimes — set more than 30 vehicles on fire and fought with police in the capital, in what witnesses said was the most violent street clash since Hasina assumed power.

The BNP and its allies are also angry about recent changes in the constitution, abolishing a decades-old system of holding national elections under an interim, non-party caretaker authority.

The opposition has demanded that the caretaker system be restored but Hasina ruled that out.

“(The Supreme Court) ruled the caretaker system unconstitutional and the parliament has accepted it through an amendment to the constitution,” she said.

Analysts say the opposition’s marches from Oct. 10 to Oct. 25 could turn violent if police try to block them. That would give the opposition an excuse to step up its campaign.