Of the dozens of people picked by security agencies in Pakistan for suspected ties with the Al Qaeda [Images], only 10 have made it home while the rest remain untraced, the Interior Ministry told the Supreme Court on Friday.

The apex court asked the government to trace the missing persons within two weeks, who the families say, have been picked up by secret agencies on charges of alleged links with the al-Qaida, anti-nationalists and nuclear scientists.

"Ten people have reached their homes," Deputy Attorney General Nasir Saeed Sheikh told a three-member Bench of the court.

Nasir produced a list of 41 people and informed the court that 20 persons have been traced after the court ordered the government last month to provide details of the missing people by December 1.

He said efforts are underway to trace the remaining 21 missing persons.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who is heading the Bench, asked the Deputy Attorney General to trace the missing by December 15.

Colonel Imran Yaqub, director of operations in the Ministry of Interior, also appeared in court and furnished a list of the missing persons.

An applicant Amna Masood, whose husband went missing, told the court that she could assist the Interior Ministry by providing a list of the missing persons.

Masood Janjua, a local educationist and businessman, suspected of having ties with the Al Qaeda has been missing since July 2005.