After Operation Sindoor in May 2025, a striking claim began circulating across social media: Pakistan may have accidentally shot down one of its own aircraft amid the chaos. Was it confirmed? No.Was it denied convincingly? Also no. And that uncertainty is precisely the point. Because even the plausibility of such a blunder felt eerily familiar. If true, it would not be unprecedented.It would be a sequel. To understand why that rumor gained traction so quickly — and why so many people found it believable — we need to revisit a darker chapter in December 1971, when confusion, panic, and institutional…