Foreign players have tentatively endorsed the return of international cricket to Pakistan after their whirlwind trip to Lahore for Sunday’s heavily guarded Pakistan Super League (PSL) final.

Players including winning captain Darren Sammy detailed a journey involving bullet-proof buses and closed roads, before they were rushed straight back to the airport with no time for celebrations.

The rest of the Pakistan Super League was played in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), but Sunday’s incident-free final has opened the door to more international cricket with a World XI now scheduled to visit in September.

Several foreign players, including England’s Kevin Pietersen and Luke Wright, skipped the final over safety fears, but Sammy praised the arrangements in Pakistan.

“I only thought about security when I was on the bus,” added the two-time World Twenty20-winning captain, who led Peshawar Zalmi to a lopsided victory over Quetta Gladiators.

“Peshawar is like a family — once one foreign player was going there we were all going. It’s like a brotherhood.”

A resurgence of attacks — including a suicide blast which killed 14 in Lahore — had raised concerns, but the final’s successful staging was widely praised in Pakistan as a stand against militancy.

Asked whether international cricket should now return, Sammy replied: “It’s not in my jurisdiction. Playing in Lahore was like playing anywhere in the world once I was in the stadium. The fans are just as passionate.”

“It’s a small step in the right direction — time will tell.”

‘Airport, hotel, stadium, airport’

Team-mate and England international Chris Jordan said he weighed his decision carefully and spoke with his family before opting to play in Lahore.

Jordan said, “You have to ask the bigger heads over there” about playing more games in Pakistan. But he said he would be happy to return “with the same set-up”.

“That level of security did help to put the guys’ minds at ease so that we could get on with the game and put on the performance that we did,” said Jordan.

“That level (of security) is a level that made everyone as comfortable as they needed to be.”

Sammy said the journey was “Airport, hotel, stadium, airport. 3am to 3am. It was more or less in and out”.

Another Peshawar player, West Indies all-rounder Rayad Emrit, was a late replacement for the final and travelled for 25 hours to play in Lahore.

“There’s always risk if you’re playing in Pakistan. But to be honest when we got there I felt safe,” he said, calling the sold-out Gaddafi Stadium “electrifying”.

“We had armoured vehicles, took us straight to the hotel. They closed off all the streets and then back to the ground where they did the same thing.”

“From the game we headed straight to the airport… No time (to celebrate).”

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday ordered the government to put the names of those involved in posting blasphemous content on social media on the Exist Control List (ECL).

Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui passed the order while hearing a case pertaining to the alleged presence of ‘blasphemous content’ on social media.

The case was filed by Salman Shahid (son-in-law of Abdul Aziz of Lal Masjid fame).

In his petition, Shahid had argued that the presence of blasphemous content on social media websites was “hurting the religious sentiments of Muslims”.

Read more: IHC wants blasphemous content on social media blocked

The petition also alleged that pages and videos against the Holy Prophet (Peace be Upon Him) and revered personalities had not been blocked by the respondents nor had any steps been taken so far to remove the content.

Federal Secretary Interior Mohammad Arif Khan, representing Interior Minister Chaudhary Nisar, Inspector General of Islamabad Police Tariq Masood Yasin, PTA Chairman Syed Ismail Shah and officials of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) appeared before the court today.

All the respondents were shown the ‘blasphemous’ content on social media in the chamber of IHC Chief Justice Siddiqui. Subsequently, Justice Siddiqui directed them to place the names of those involved on ECL. He questioned PTA chairman what he had done so far to get the content off social media pages.

The judge said that the court will hear the case on a daily basis and directed PTA to take action immediately. He ordered the PTA chairman to submit his progress on the case to him on a daily basis as well.

In his remarks, Justice Siddiqui said he had been unable to sleep since he saw the materials available with the court.

“I will go to every extent to bring this case to its logical end and if needed I will even ban social media in Pakistan,” he said.

Secretary interior assured the court that all possible measures would be taken to remove the content from social media and arrest the culprits.

Torkham and Chaman crossings on the Pak-Afghan border opened for the second day on Wednesday as thousands of stranded Afghans and Pakistanis crossed into their respective countries.

The Pakistan government had decided to close the border last month amid a string of deadly militant attacks which the military leadership claimed were carried out by militants operating from safe-havens in Afghanistan.

The border was temporarily reopened for two-days on Tuesday in a bid to to ease tensions between the two neighbours and relieve some of the backlog of people and vehicles at the crossings.

Over 12,500 Afghan nationals crossed the border to return home on Tuesday, Radio Pakistan reported.

According to the state-run daily, 450 Pakistanis have returned to their country via Torkham border check-post since the border opened on Tuesday.