Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will talk to Indonesian President Megawati if Polaris Software Labs chairman Arun Jain is not released by Jakarta police by Thursday evening, IT and Communications Minister Pramod Mahajan said.
"(External Affairs Minister) Yashwant Sinha has already briefed the Prime Minister about his talks with Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda," Mahajan added.
Mahajan was hopeful that some positive developments would happen by Thursday evening.
The mood at the Polaris office was quite sombre and company vice-president Raghuraman Balakrishnan said: "We are very concerned now. We are aware that it is going to be a week (since Jain's arrest). We are also scared that the weekend is coming and we are trying hard to get them released before that. Now that the external affairs minister has spoken to his counterpart in Indonesia, we are very hopeful that some action will be taken today (Thursday)."
Balakrishnan also informed that the released vice presidents, Rajeev Arora and Chander Singh were in a much better frame of mind. Both of them are back in office.
"They are still talking about the incidents that happened there. They feel that this shouldn't happen to anybody from India or any other country."
According to Rajeev Arora and Chander Singh, the meeting with Bank Artha Graha was originally planned for Wednesday, December 11, 2002. Bank Artha Graha president Anton Hudyana appeared to be willing to sit and discuss the issues. To accommodate this, the meeting was rescheduled to Friday, December 13, 2002, on request from Bank Artha Graha.
Upon arriving at the bank's premises on Friday at 13.30 (Indonesian time), Anton Hudyana requested a one-on-one meeting with Arun Jain.
At that meeting it was conveyed to Arun Jain that Bank Artha Graha wanted only the termination of the contract. Their communication, in short, was either terminate the contract and settle compensation across the table, or face police action.
Even as the Polaris team tried to speak with the bank's team to seek ways to resolve the conflict situation and avoid termination of the contract, Bank Artha Graha resorted to police intervention.
Rajeev Arora and Chander Singh were released and were to allowed to return to India after twenty six hours detention at the police station while Arun Jain and Rajiv Malhotra were taken to police detention.
Meanwhile the legal counsel for Polaris from India reached Jakarta and is working on the ground with the international law firm, Lucas Partners in trying to secure the release of Jain and Malhotra.
According to Balakrishnan, the families of both the detainees have also appealed to the Indian and Indonesian governments "for a speedy resolution."
"The continued detention of the senior officials is unlawful, as the contract was drawn up under the laws of Singapore and not Indonesia," the vice president said.
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