The G-8 leaders, in a joint communique adopted at their summit here, asked India and Pakistan not to deploy nuclear weapons and said Islamabad should exercise maximum restraint in the face of the tests conducted by New Delhi.

``We call upon India to rejoin the mainstream of international opinion, to adhere unconditionally to the NPT and CTBT and to enter negotiations on a global treaty to stop production of fissile material for nuclear weapons,'' said the communique issued by heads of states and governments of United States, Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Japan and Russia.

Releasing the communique, British Prime Minister Tony Blair conveyed what he termed G-8's ``strong exception'' to India's nuclear tests and said though there had beenno concerted sanctions, response by individual member countries could be telling.

French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, in their separate concluding press conferences, asked India to immediately sign the CTBT and NPT.

In a joint BBC television interview with Blair, Clinton warned India and Pakistan that they could resurrect cold war conflicts in South Asia if they engage in a nuclear arms race. He added, ``It is a nutty way to go. It is not the way to chart the future,'' he said. (In a report from Washington, the Clinton Administration ruled out breaking its diplomatic ties with India.)