Actor-producer Arbaaz Khan has defended his brother Salman Khan over his comments on the 26/11 attack and insists that he did not intend to hurt anybody's sentiments and was just voicing his opinion.

In an interview to Aaj Tak news channel, Arbaaz said: "Whatever Salman said was just his opinion and he had no intention of hurting anybody's sentiments."

"If something similar would have been said by a common man it would not have made such an impact. Just because there's a celebrity involved it is big news. Everybody should be given the right to express themselves.

"We ourselves are a cosmopolitan and secular family. We have family members from all religions. Why would someone from such a family intend to hurt anyone's sentiments? It is necessary to understand the intent with which Salman made such remarks and not create a hue and cry."

Salman's father Salim also said his son is not "articulate and political" and it could have been a "wrong choice of words", but says he should apologise.

Salman, 44, invited flak with his comments to a Pakistani TV channel: "Too much hype has been created around the 26/11 attacks because elite people were targetted. Attacks have happened in trains and small towns too, but no one talked about it so much."

He also said: "Everybody knows that the Pakistani government was not behind it and it was a terrorist attack. Our security had failed. We have had lot of attacks earlier, and all of them were not from Pakistan. They were from within."

He later tweeted that henceforth he would record all his interviews to prevent such controversies. He also denounced all terror attacks.