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" NEED FOR AN ARBITRATION INSTITUTION NEED FOR AN ARBITRATION INSTITUTION FOR PAKISTAN   By   Barrister Umar Shahid*   "If one party resolves to demand what the other resolves to refuse, the dispute can be determined only by arbitration, and between powers who have no common superior" Samuel Johnson (September 18, 1709 - December 13, 1784).   Fuelled by international trade and investments, commercial arbitration has experienced exponential growth over the past decades. Accordingly, it is a prominent feature in both foreign and domestic commercial disputes. The globalization of business prioritized the successful presentation and defence of arbitration claims in companies business strategies. From amongst all the alternate dispute resolution methods, arbitration is the most vital form for parties unfamiliar with court systems of the applicable law. Its universal appeal is tied to its binding yet flexible nature. However, like any other dispute resolution method, arbitration is only as good as its enabling provisions and its practitioners.   Pakistan has always been a problematic country for dispute settlement. Litigation perils aside, other forms of dispute resolution have also been plagued by inability to flourish to their full potential. Arbitration, which was globally introduced as a better alternative to litigation, has traditionally been viewed as an inferior process. So much so that courts and legislators have taken the view that arbitration proceedings require careful supervision and control. Nevertheless, recent years have witnessed an extraordinary rise in the popularity of international arbitration in Pakistan and it is considered as a standard means of dispute resolution especially where a domestic party enters into a…